Day 4: X Marks the Spot
by DavidB226Morris
Summary: A series of attacks in DC are tied to former FBI Agent Fox Mulder. But as Jack Bauer, Sydney Bristow and the remnants of APO investigate, they find that a there is a far greater threat to the country, and it's a lot closer than they think
1. Story Disclaimer

DAY 4---- X Marks the Spot

A X-Files/24/ Alias Crossover

by DavidB226Morris

Summary--- President David Palmer is on his way to address the U.N. when a series of strikes hit D.C. and bring Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn out of their desk job. Operating in conjunction with Jack Bauer and CTU they find evidence implicating an unlikely suspect--- Fox Mulder. But as the investigation progresses, they learn that the conspiracy is far deeper than they imagine, and may be the greatest challenge they have faced yet.

RATING---- Probably going to merge into R territory, but for now, it's fit for consumption for teenagers.

Disclaimer: Jack Bauer, President David Palmer and the rest of the team at CTU belong to Joel Surnow and all the staff at Real Time Productions. Sydney Bristow, Nadia Santos and any other characters from Alias who pop up are the property of J.J. Abrams and all the geniuses who worked on Alias. Mulder, Scully, and all the other assorted characters that make up the wonderful world of the X-Files are the property of Chris Carter and TEN-THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS. (Although given his treatment of them, he probably doesn't deserve them.) I'm just borrowing them

Feedback: Review of any kind can be emailed to .

Argument: This is mainly for you _X-Files_ fan. Now it would have helped significantly if you had read the two predecessor of this story-- Day 2 Reloaded, the Space Between, and Day 3, crossovers between _24 and Alias_ (all of which are available at for reading and reviewing, hint, hint) but--- and I'm probably violating every unwritten rule of fan fiction, you really don't need to have read them in order to understand the 24/ALias part of the story. I intend to give explanation very quickly, and by the end of the first chapter, all non-readers should be completely caught up.

Now for a couple of warnings for x-philes: In this universe 'I Want To Believe' did not happen. This is nothing personal, but for this universe the discrepancies of the movies do not help story. As far as the world knows, Mulder and Scully are still... well, keep reading, and you'll know what they are. Also, I think everybody in the entire world knows this, but for those of you who don't, this story will be following the 24 format--- each chapter will take place over one hour. Also, for verification this story takes place in the second year of President David Palmer's second term--- around May 2009.

One last warning before we kickoff: Though this is, in the long run, mostly an X-Files story, it will be following rules set by the _24 _universe--- which means some beloved characters will die. I know this may send some fans running from the room, but I implore you to stick it out. There is always a great cost for revealing the truth.

And, one more thing--- last couple of stories I wrote haven't been reviewed nearly enough in relationship to how they were read.. So, I've giving you a warning: If I don't receive a certain number of reviews after I post, I'll hold off posting succeeding chapters indefinitely. So, review early and often--- or else.

Do I still have you all? Then the clock is running.


	2. 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

DAY 4---- X Marks the Spot

A X-Files/24/ Alias Crossover

by DavidB226Morris

Summary--- President David Palmer is on his way to address the U.N. when a series of strikes hit D.C. and bring Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn out of their desk job. Operating in conjunction with Jack Bauer and CTU they find evidence implicating an unlikely suspect--- Fox Mulder. But as the investigation progresses, they learn that the conspiracy is far deeper than they imagine, and may be the greatest challenge they have faced yet.

RATING---- Probably going to merge into R territory, but for now, it's fit for consumption for teenagers.

Disclaimer: Jack Bauer, President David Palmer and the rest of the team at CTU belong to Joel Surnow and all the staff at Real Time Productions. Sydney Bristow, Nadia Santos and any other characters from Alias who pop up are the property of J.J. Abrams and all the geniuses who worked on Alias. Mulder, Scully, and all the other assorted characters that make up the wonderful world of the X-Files are the property of Chris Carter and TEN-THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS. (Although given his treatment of them, he probably doesn't deserve them.) I'm just borrowing them

Feedback: Review of any kind can be emailed to .

Argument: This is mainly for you _X-Files_ fan. Now it would have helped significantly if you had read the two predecessor of this story-- Day 2 Reloaded, the Space Between, and Day 3, crossovers between _24 and Alias_ (all of which are available at for reading and reviewing, hint, hint) but--- and I'm probably violating every unwritten rule of fanfiction, you really don't need to have read them in order to understand the 24/ALias part of the story. I intend to give explanation very quickly, and by the end of the first chapter, all non-readers should be completely caught up.

Now for a couple of warnings for x-philes: In this universe 'I Want To Believe' did not happen. This is nothing personal, but for this universe the discrepancies of the movies do not help story. As far as the world knows, Mulder and Scully are still... well, keep reading, and you'll know what they are. Also, I think everybody in the entire world knows this, but for those of you who don't, this story will be following the 24 format--- each chapter will take place over one hour. Also, for verification this story takes place in the second year of President David Palmer's second term--- around May 2009.

One last warning before we kickoff: Though this is, in the long run, mostly an X-Files story, it will be following rules set by the _24 _universe--- which means some beloved characters will die. I know this may send some fans running from the room, but I implore you to stick it out. There is always a great cost for revealing the truth.

Do I still have you all? Then the clock is running.

**Chapter 1**

**The Following Takes Place Between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.**

WASHINGTON D.C.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Especially over the last few years, the security measures surrounding the central offices of the FBI had made it even more secure than the paranoid first director could have imagined. So the idea that any unauthorized person could enter the building carrying a relatively modest-sized package and get past through any of the checkpoints would've been incomprehensible to any of the powers that be. And that it would happen on a day when agency directors from several other departments and the military were scheduled to have a major meeting would've been exponentially more astounding.

Nevertheless, that was exactly what happened, as a completely foreign agent made it through each part of the building carrying the necessary payload to his destination. And while he did have the appropriate security clearance and passed the other checkpoints, he was able to circumvent what should have been the intelligence center of the United States government. Especially since this killer was making it his business to be spotted by every security camera imaginable.

The final destination was unknown to all but the agency heads and their immediate subordinates. However the assassin managed to walk right, and place his package under the table in the center of the room.

"I don't care what the latest quarterly statistics are telling us; we're facing a major funding crisis by the end of the summer!"

"You want to take it up with Treasury; file a report." A relatively large black man with the fringe of a beard was icily telling his subordinate. "But I'm not going to step on Homeland's toes---"

Deputy Director Alvin Kersh looked up to see a man in a gray suit standing before them. "Agent Crane, you don't have the clearance for this meeting!" he said in his dry-schoolmasters voice.

"I wanted to talk with the Section Chief," Crane started.

"You don't have clearance. Leave. Now."

Had the Deputy Director not been so much of a bureaucrat, he might have noticed the warning signs that an agent as well placed as Crane was doing here despite several memos that had dictated proper agent placement for this morning's meeting. He might also have considered why an agent who had been on the fringe of a lot of suspicious activities over the past couple of years was allowed their all. But like most bureaucrats--- which in the last analysis, Kersh always was--- he could not see beyond the problems of the now.

So he let the assassin exit the room as the influx of agency head began to arrive for the 9 AM meeting, an action which would lead to the deaths of twenty three people.

Once the assassin had left, he took out his pager and sent a text message to the next link in the chain.

SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

FLOOR OF THE CAPITOL

"And I will put forward that despite the best wishes of our President that we are close to achieving victory, the fact that under his administration we are still engage in shadow conflicts both with the Chinese and the Middle East. He may say that he has kept us out of war, but we can not afford to keep this kind of peace."

There weren't a lot of people in the galleries listening to Senator Sorensen's nearly daily rant against the shoddiness of the Palmer administration defense policy. So few of the reporters paid much attention when a man in the gallery removed a Palm Pilot, and began fiddling with it.

As Sorenson finished, half a dozen Senators demanded recognition.

"The Chair recognizes Senator Matheson,."

Matheson readied the papers in front of him, and slowly rose to his feet.

"While I hold firm with the opinions of my distinguished colleague," Matheson began , "I must disagree in the strongest possible terms with his position on S.R.762. I believe that to let this bill..." The Senator hesitated, and put his fingers to his temple. "... that this bill, will do far more long term... long term damage to our civil liberties. We can not.... can not afford to give license to those... who would assail us more reason...."

By now, everyone in the Senate could tell how flushed Matheson was and that his hands were beginning to shake. He was making a motion to one of the pages for a glass of water, when suddenly he gave a gasp, and he collapsed to the floor.

Once again everyone's attention was riveted to the floor, so the cameras were not focused on the man who put the device in his suit pocket, and walked out the door. No one would even think to connect him with what had happened, and by the time they did, there were far more serious things to worry about.

**9:06:35/9:06:36/9:06:37**

NEW YORK CITY

STOKES HILTON,PRESIDENTIAL SUITE

"So the Dow had it's biggest opening in three years," Mike Novick told him said as he watched the screen.

"I think that had more to do with my speech at the Stock Exchange rather than any great faith in my economic policy," President David Palmer said with a smile.

"You promised after getting reelected that you would stop being so cynical about good news."

"There hasn't been a lot of good news in my administration, "the President said as his smile disappeared, "and usually when it comes, the other shoe drops less than a few minutes later. Forgive me for being so pessimistic."

Mike was keeping a light tone, but in truth he was concerned for the President's mood. It was true that his administration had borne witness to some of the darker moments in the country's history, but usually David Palmer had found that special reserve that presidents must call upon to lead. But ever since his first term had ended, it was taking more to draw from that surplus of strength. Black humor like this was becoming more frequent.

At that moment Lynn Kresge walked into the room with a grim expression on her face. "Mr. President, I just got off the phone with Carol. Senator Matheson seems to have suffered a heart attack."

"How serious is it?" the President asked.

"It's looking pretty bad," Lynn told them. "They're taking him to George Washington now."

Mike was concerned. The President had served on the Intelligence Committee with Matheson when he was still in the Senate. They had managed to stay close friends after Palmer had been elevated to the Presidency and Matheson had moved up to majority whip during the last three years. Matheson might have been the President's closest friend in Congress.

"I spoke with Richard just two days ago. He was the picture of health," the President said, still disbelief..

"The man was seventy-three," Mike told him. "When you're that old, the body starts playing tricks with you."

"I should probably call Elizabeth."

"Mr. President, you have a meeting with the Russian ambassador in less than half an hour," Mike reminded him.

"We can have it wait a little, Mike" the President said. "The man's a friend. Besides, it's not like today's a high-pressure day."

The President didn't know how quickly he would rue this statement.

Dixon didn't know whose bright idea it had been to hold this multi-intelligence agency meeting at the Hoover Building rather than Langley or Homeland. He had managed to avoid most of these meetings when he was in LA several years ago, and had hoped he could keep dodging the bullet. He'd been to a couple of these meetings before; they inevitably turned into clusterfucks less than half an hour in.

He would've probably found an excuse to avoid coming to this one as well; had he not received a call from FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner a couple of days earlier. Dixon had a nodding acquaintance with him, but they weren't really friends--- the Company and the Bureau relationship had never been more than collegial and the twain rarely met. But, for some reason, he had found his number, and told him that he needed to meet with him on a matter of some urgency.

Now Skinner walked up to him. "Thank you." he began

"This had better be important, Walter," Dixon told him abruptly "There are a lot of better things I could do with this time. "

"Trust me, Marcus, this is about as high level as it gets."

"Then why come to me?" Dixon told him.

Skinner lowered his voice. "Because there's nobody left at the Bureau I can trust."

Dixon was about to point out that there were other people in he Agency he might have better luck with when Deputy Director Kersh spoke: "I think we're ready to begin."

Other agents were still coming to the table as Kersh began to speak.

"As we are all aware, our nation faces great struggles, both within and without," Kersh told them.

Dixon rolled his eyes. These meetings brought out the pomposity of their leaders.

"I realize that our working relationship hasn't been easy, but unless we work together--"

At that moment, one of the agents in the room, while sitting down had banged his shin against a suitcase. He was just saying excuse me when he noticed that this briefcase didn't match the style of the others that were in the room.

"Director Kersh," one agent said. "we need to get out.. now!"

The agent was quick, but not swift enough. Five seconds after he uttered the last world, the room exploded.

**9:14:26/9:14:27/9:14:28/9:14:29**

Ever since the death of her parents and the final demise of Arvin Sloane, Sydney Bristow had not particularly wanted to work as intelligence any longer. But as her husband had told her, the idea of getting out of 'the game' was still too difficult a transition to make. So she, her husband, and her daughter had relocated across the country, and took government jobs which, while intelligence based, had almost nothing to do with general operation at CIA. Sydney was now a field instructor for recruits at the Farm, one of the Agency oldest training facilities. Vaughn's was one of the agent liaison for the White House, which while still working with the Company was mainly a job involving paperwork. Neither job may have been thrilling, but they get them home in time to play with Isabelle, and, as both of them said, they had enough excitement for several lifetimes.

Sydney was about to lead her first team through their exercise, when she noticed that she could see smoke on the horizon. She couldn't tell where exactly it was coming from, but she given the area, it had to be somewhere important.

One of her students had noticed it. "Oh my God," he told her. "Have we been hit again?

Sydney imagined that most of her class was thinking the same thing. She was already silently praying to a God she still had difficulty believing in that it wasn't what she thought it was. "I'll try and find out." She speed-dialed her husband, who picked up after the first ring.

"Yes?"

Sydney allowed herself one selfish moment of thanking whoever it was responsible that her husband was still alive before refocusing her energy on what was going on. "Michael, do you have any idea what happened?"

"It looks like whoever it was hit the Hoover Building," Vaughn told her.

"Walls or interior?"

"We're still gathering intel," he told her. "but there is a major cause for concern."

"What?"

"There was an interagency meeting involving the directors of half of D.C. scheduled for 9," Vaughn said grimly. "Two people from my office were going to be there, and I haven't been able to reach either of them."

"How long until we have some idea of the body count?" Sydney asked.

"I'm still trying to find out. Give me a few minutes and I'll call you back."

"Got it," Sydney hung up. She turned to her class, only to find that most of them were on their cells, no doubt checking in on their loved ones.

Sydney didn't blame them. "I'm going to dismiss classes for the rest of today," she told them.

"What's happening?" the same student who'd spoken before asked again.

"We're still gathering information," she admitted. "And the last thing I want to do is spread false rumors,"

"I don't think rumors could be worse than reality, " another student said

Sydney didn't disagree, but unlike most of the people that she was training, she could actually help with this crisis. She went back to her office to grab her car keys.

"Do we have a clear idea of who's dead?" Vaughn asked his counterpart at the Bureau.

"We're still getting information, but from what I hear the bomb was at the center of the room when it exploded, and that was when most of the agency heads were assembled," Agent Howell responded. "Whoever did this couldn't have timed it better. It may take hours before we can ID some of the bodies."

_Shit. _"Who's in charge?" Vaughn told him

"We're still trying to get answers. Unfortunately, we haven't exactly assembled a protocol in case a disaster of this magnitude occurs. I think it's Homeland's party, but unfortunately three of their agency heads have already been confirmed dead."

"Well, I still know a couple of grunts there. I'll call them, see if we can find anything about terrorist chatter the last few hours."

"Thanks, Mike," Howell told him. "I'll get back to you---"

He cut off so suddenly than for a moment Vaughn feared he had lost the connection. "Sam," Vaughn asked. "Sam, you there?

"Vaughn, we just identified a couple more of the deceased." Howell told him

A horrible feeling occurred to Vaughn. There were only a few agency heads in D.C. that he and Sydney were still friendly with, and only one that really mattered to them.

"Who is it?"

Sydney had made it back to her car when her cell rang again. "Vaughn, is that you?" she asked.

There was a long pause before Vaughn answered sounding sadder than he had in a long time. "Syd, I just got an update of the confirmed dead." he told her. "Dixon was at the meeting."

All of a sudden, a tension that she had felt more often than she would have liked but hadn't felt since her father's memorial service, hit her. "Are...are they sure?"

"His body was relatively unburned," Vaughn said as calmly as he could manage. "His neck broke when the force of the blast blew him into a wall."

Sydney summoned a level of the reserve that she had long since learned to carry. Other people would've dealt with their grief by weeping, screaming, or breaking something. Her response was one that would've done her father proud.

"How long will it take you get to the Bureau?" she asked.

"I'm on my way there now," Vaughn once again proved how much he got her. "I should be there in three minutes."

"I'll get there as quickly as I can," she told her husband.

"You sure you don't want to notify his family?"

"I need to find the scum who did this, and stomp them out," she said with a coldness that she hadn't utilized in awhile. "Marcus would understand. Hell, he'd expect it of me."

"I'll call the Bureau, and tell them to be expecting you," Vaughn told her. "And Syd, I am so sorry."

"Me too," she whispered before hanging up.

She got into her car, and allowed herself to be upset for exactly ten seconds

The rest of her energy was going to be focused on stopping whoever did this.

**9:25:12/9:25/13/9:25:14/9:25:15**

_NEW YORK REGIONAL CTU OFFICE_

Nadia Santos' reaction to the deaths of her parent hadn't been quite as intense as her sister's had been--- her relationship with both of her parents had been shaky from the start--- but it had been enough that she wanted to get the hell out of LA, friendships and relatives aside. Not surprisingly, her then fiancée Jack Bauer--- who had just as bad associations with the city as her--- had been more than willing to go.

So, calling in one of his chits from the administration, he and Nadia had relocated to New York, where he had assumed the same position he had held in the LA office-- Agent in Charge. Nadia had taken the position of Intelligence Agent, and they had begun a new life. Three months after that, they had gotten married

So far, they had been lucky. There had not been a major terror strike in the city since the Towers fell, and most of there work had been involved the occasional pissing contest with Homeland and the NYPD. When the President had come to New York to speak for the UN, Jack had expected that there would have been an increase in chatter. There had been almost none, which had make Jack, if anything, more suspicious. Something was coming

Now it appeared he'd been right, but the strike had been aimed at D.C., which meant it was going to be out of his hands. So Jack was doing one of the few proactive things his current position would allow him.

"Mr. President, I strongly advise you to reconsider returning to Washington," he told President Palmer over the speaker.

"We've just been hit in what should have been one of the most secure places in the country," the President reminded him. "And even if there are fewer dead than here or even Oklahoma City, the fact remains that they managed to take out some of the most important people in the intelligence community. My people have talked to five different agencies, and have gotten six different answers as to who's running the show. Somebody needs to show leadership."

"Sir, I understand, and I share your concerns, but for all we know, this could be the start of another series of attacks," Mike Novick added, supporting Jack Bauer. "The last thing we need is you walking into a hot zone. This isn't the time for faux bravery."

"There's nothing left for me to run for Mike," the President reminded him. "If I can't do my job now, the last election was a waste of the people's vote."

By now, Jack knew David Palmer well enough to know when his mind was made up. He decided to make one last try regardless. "Mr. President, aside from the symbolic good it would show the country, what can you do there that you can't do from here? Considering all of the agencies we're trying to coordinate would have to completely readjust to deal with your presence, what good would that be in helping us catch the men responsible?"

There was a hesitation on the other end.

"There are a lot of qualified people on the ground already," Mike reminded them. "They may need a little time to run on all cylinders, but they have prepared for these kinds of emergencies. Let them try to do their jobs."

While the President considered this, Nadia walked into his office. She looked a little pale, but for the moment Jack set this aside. "Sir?"

"I'm going to have to speak with the public about this strike soon," the President said. "We need answers, Jack, and if there's anything you can do to help get them, you have my permission to do it."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Jack told him.

"I'll let you get to work."

After the President hung up, Jack turned to Nadia. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"I just got off the phone with Sydney," his wife told him. "One of the directors at the meeting was Dixon. He's dead."

Jack felt like he'd just been sucker-punched. Even though they both held positions of leadership in the Company, they hadn't really kept in touch with Dixon since he'd moved to D.C. He'd worked alongside the man for over a year and a half, and he didn't think he'd spoke with him twice over the past three months. Now he was gone forever.

Sydney had internally counted to ten before returning to work. Jack only needed to get to five. "Have we begun coordinating with the DC offices yet?" he asked.

"I've got Edgar working on it now," she said, "He's already coordinating, but unless we have an agent on the scene, both Homeland and the Bureau are going to have us running through jurisdictional hoops."

"I'll contact the White House, tell them to let Vaughn act as our representative when he gets on site," Jack told her. "Meanwhile, you get in touch with Langley. We'll have them grant provisional clearance to Syd."

"You think they'll listen?"

"You just heard the President give me the authority. If there were ever a better argument for pulling rank, now's the time."

**9:33:40/9:33:41/9:33:42**

Vaughn had expected that the Hoover Building would be utter chaos,, but that still hadn't prepared him for what he saw. The Bureau employed more than 20,000 people, and it seemed like almost all of them were on the streets surrounding the building. Though he knew that it was far more likely that hundreds, if not thousands of ordinary citizens were adding there number to the throng. He couldn't remember the last time he saw chaos on this scale.

This was particularly remarkable when you considered that there was no outward sign of destruction--- no broken, no rubble, no fires anywhere.

Not surprisingly, wearing his ID only helped him make slow progress --- every other person seemed to be a federal agent, and they seemed to be having far less luck getting answers than any other civilian. Finally, he saw an ambulance that had cordoned off part of the street---- at least there, he'd be able to get some kind of information about the injured.

"Excuse me?" he shouted into the chaos. ""My name is Michael Vaughn, I'm with the White House."

'Thank God, somebody's stepping up," one of the paramedics told him, as he finished sewing stitches in an agents forehead.

Vaughn decided to let this little lie pass, and see what he could grab before he was found out. "Where exactly was the explosion?" he asked.

"Fourth floor, room 421, right in the center of the building," the medic. "Thank God for small favors."

"What do you mean?"

"The room had no windows, and wasn't anywhere near the central pillars of the building. Furthermore, from what we can get from the bomb squad, the explosion came from a suitcase bomb of some kind. Small localized charge dedicated only to taking out people in the room. No casualties beyond three hundred feet of the blast."

"How many dead so far?"

The medic looked around. "You'd have to check with the agents inside. From what I understand, they're going over the rosters of everybody who was in that room. But based on what the callbacks from the other ambulances, deaths probably going to top out at maybe thirty, maybe thirty-five people altogether."

"You're not saying we got lucky?" Vaughn couldn't help a snide remark.

The medic got a little self-righteous. "Hey, I was here when the bombers tried to target the Pentagon. And I'm not saying that it wasn't horrible. But this could've been much worse."

_Dixon's children won't think so_ Vaughn thought to himself. "Where are the agents in charge?" was all he said.

"AD Maslin, I think that her name was." The Medic gestured to the east. "They set up a command post just outside the entrance."

"Thanks."

The rest of the trek up was comparatively easy--- until Vaughn got to the front door, and a man in a trenchcoat stepped in front of him., and asked to see his ID.

Vaughn produced it, expecting no trouble. Instead, the man looked took out a bizarre sort of BlackBerry, and began punching in some figures.

"I'm sorry, I can't allow you to pass," the man in the trenchcoat told him

Vaughn wasn't sure that he'd heard right. "Excuse me?"

"Only authorized personnel are allowed within the blast zone."

"I work at the White House, pal. Since when does that office not grant me clearance?" Vaughn demanded.

"This building is under the discretion of Homeland Security. In order for the integrity of this investigation to be maintained---"

"I'd like to see you identification," Vaughn interrupted.

Suddenly Vaughn noticed that there were two strong men on either side of him.

"I'm going to ask you one more time to leave, Mr. Vaughn."

Right now, Vaughn was aching for a fight. What stopped him was that he knew there were other ways to get around assholes like these. "Fine, sir."

He slowly walked away until he was out of distance of the mans view. The second he did he speed-dialed Sydney. "Where are you?"

"I'm half a mile from the Hoover building, being treated like Typhoid Mary," Sydney told him in a similar irritated tone. "I've passed three guys in military uniforms, and apparently my name isn't enough to get doors opened for me anymore."

"That's interesting, because I was just all but escorted out by someone who said he was from Homeland, but whose bearing screamed army."

Sydney took this in. "Way I see it, we've got a couple of options. We can call our friends higher up the food chain, get their asses reamed, and walk in the front door. Or we can talk to our other well-placed allies somewhat lower down who actually run the place, and fight out what they know without warning them."

Vaughn thought this through. If there was a deeper plot than the murder of the agency heads, he wanted to get to the bottom of it. "Get your laptop and meet me outside the Kennedy Center in five minutes," he told her. "I'll call Jack and Nadia."

"Shall I call Marshall?"

"My guess is, he'll be trying to reach us any second."

**9:41:36/9:41:37/9:41:38/9:41:39**

FLINKMAN RESIDENCE, LOS ANGELES

Marshall knew that he could get in a fair amount of trouble for his current actions. He hadn't worked for the Company since the birth of Marie, his third child a year earlier. (Ironically, he now held a similar position at an LA software company that had been his cover when he had been working at APO.) But when he had seen the news reports on CNN as he had been preparing to go in, much like his friends in DC, he found himself trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He hadn't been able to reach either Syd or Vaughn on their private lines, so his next call was to Nadia, and by extension Jack.

Because he no longer hid his position from anyone, he had naturally told his wife, who was as appalled as he was, but didn't have time for follow-ups. Two minutes after the news came in, she got a call from her own boss, telling her that she was needed in the LA office of NSA.

"You didn't have any people from your office fly in, did you?" Marshall asked worriedly.

"No, but one of them was a Regional -Director for the Pacific Coast operations," she replied. "My guess is half the offices of every intelligence agency in the country had a rep of some kind."

"The bombing was half an hour ago, and they're only getting you in now?" Marshall asked.

"A lot of DC offices lost their head agents this morning. My guess is they're still fighting over who's in charge," Ashley told him.

"Then how are they going to catch whoever did this?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have a voice in that," Ashley admitted. "Neither do you."

"Hey, I'm not making any radical plans," Marshall told them. "I still have to hold down the fort until the nanny gets in."

"Someone you care about is dead," she reminded him, "and your friends are involved. I can't ask you not to do this. So I'm just going to say, stay legitimate."

Marshall had promised this. Less than five minutes later, he had tapped into the FBI mainframe in order to get a list of the confirmed dead. Jack had given him provisional clearance, of course, but things could get hairy, if he got caught.

Which he had no intention of doing.

"What are your first thoughts on this?" Nadia asked him over the hookup he had next to the room in his workshop.

"I think that whoever did this was target the Bureau specifically," Marshall put forth. "I know that there were a lot of security agencies present, but according to this list, the majority of the people in that room were FBI. I think the other directors were basically bonus collateral damage."

"This meeting wasn't exactly public knowledge to people in every agency," Jack pointed out. "It was need to know for unit heads, I wasn't even supposed to tell Nadia about this."

"Well, maybe someone in the Bureau had loose lips, " Marshall pointed out.

"A lot of things they've handled have been slipshod, but I've a hard time believing that they'd mishandle something of this magnitude."

"So this must have been an inside job."" Marshall pondered.

Nadia's phone beeped. "Sydney, thanks for moving this fast," Nadia told her.

" I'm here with Vaughn. Who else is in on the conversation?"

"Right now, it's Jack and me in New York, and I'm conference calling with Marshall."

"I'm so sorry about what happened to Dixon," Marshall told him.

"Thank you," Sydney told the others.

Jack: "Have you got anything from the crime scene?"

Vaughn: "According to the Bureau, my clearance wasn't high enough to gain me admittance."

"You work in the White House ; how is that not sufficient clearance?" Jack asked incredulously.

Vaughn: "Valid question. A more important one is why the military is closing ranks around something that definitely is a federal matter?"

"The military's there?"

Nadia blinked. "You could've gone over their heads Why didn't you?"

"Because they arrived a little too quickly to have been called in by legitimate means," Sydney told them. "I think that someone's in the process of arranging a cover story, and that the lives of all the men and women who died are being shoved under it."

"We need to find out what happened in there without them knowing about it," Vaughn told them.

Marshall had been out of the company for a year, but he understood. "What do you need me to do?"

"Tap into the security cameras inside the bureau," Jack asked. "Find footage of who might have placed the bomb. They probably had that place sweeped every hour."

"Start with the thirty minutes prior to the beginning of the meeting," Sydney told him.

"We do have people who are more than capable of doing this with a lot fewer red flags being waved." Nadia pointed out

"Not unless Marshall's really gone to seed in the last year," Vaughn argued.

**9:50:19/9:50:20/9:50:21/9:50:22**

"Okay,' Marshall told them as he began typing keys. "according to Vaughn, the Director's meeting was in Room 421. Based on some memos I pulled off the regional director desk, it was scheduled to start at 9 on the dot. I pulled the data off the security feed on the fourth floor from the half hour before then."

"How much data do you have to sift through?" Jack asked.

"That's just it," Marshall told them with a lack of panache. "Took me all of two minutes to find exactly what we were looking for."

None of the agents had been expecting this.. "What's in the footage?"

'See for yourself," Marshall said. "I'm running a live stream through the computer."

The picture was that of the halls of the bureau. At 8:59, a man in a charcoal suit approached room 421, a suitcase visible in his had. As he entered the room, he faced the camera for a full three seconds--- long enough to capture his image. He was a about six feet tall, with dark brown eyes, a larger than average nose, and the fringe of a beard.

"I don't even have to advance the footage," Marshall told them. "As you can tell from the time stamp, he's in there all of ninety seconds. "

During that time two men--- one a middle-aged African American, the other a younger man with glasses, walked into the room. Less than half a minute later, the man walked out of the room, and turned back to the entrance. Again his profile faced the camera, but you didn't even need a long shot to tell he was no longer carrying the suitcase..

"He does everything but smile for the camera," Sydney said doubtfully.

"There's got to be some trick to this," Vaughn agreed. "A man doesn't gain access to the Hoover building, place a bomb, and then pose for his mug shots in and out."

"Marshall, has this tape been doctored?' Sydney asked.

"I'm running comparisons right now, but I'm ninety-nine percent certain this tape is the original," Marshall told them. "For better or worse, this is the guy who placed the bomb."

"Authenticate the footage," Jack told him. "I'm going to run his image through the national database."

As he began to do so, Sydney shook her head, even though no one could see her. "It still doesn't explain how he got through security in the first place," she argued. "I don't care how slack the Bureau is, no way they let someone with a suspicious package in past the front gate."

"He must have had someone on the inside," Nadia countered..

Before Sydney could express her doubts, Jack told him. "We got a hit. I'm sending the information to Marshall."

But rather than clarifying the issue, it made things even harder to fathom.

"Fox William Mulder," Sydney read off. "Charged May 2002 for the murder of a government agent in Mount Weather, Virginia. Convicted by a military tribunal. Sentenced to death by lethal injection. Broke out of Virginia prison prior to execution. Manhunt never called off."

"How does a man who's been a fugitive for seven years manage to get access into the Federal building?" Vaughn demanded.

"Because he used to work there." Jack told them. "Fox Mulder worked for the Bureau from 1987 to 2001."

"Whoa, whoa." Marshall had suddenly come back on the line. "The same Agent Mulder who ran the X-Files?"

Now Sydney was befuddled. "What do you know about it?"

"Fox Mulder is sort of an closet hero of my circle. The guy was a major force in uncovering government conspiracies, and exposing the truth on paranormal events."

Everyone had to process this. There was a long silence on the New York end of the telephone. "Marshall," he said calmly, "I just have one question."

Marshall swallowed. Jack still made him nervous. "Yes?"

"Do any of those stories involve Milo Rimbaldi?"

"Um, no."

"Good. Just checking. As long as there aren't any more dead Italians involved..."

"Mulder may have had some extreme views," Marshall added, "but he wouldn't rain kind of mass destruction upon the government!"

"Not even to cover his tracks?" Nadia said. "I just finished perusing the casualty list. Among the dead were FBI Deputy Director Alvin Kersh, and Assistant Director Walter Skinner. I checked the file. Both men were instrumental in the process that led to Mulder being convicted for murder."

"I'm reading the same file," Marshall argued. "Skinner was Mulder's superior for eight years. He represented him at his trial. Why would Mulder kill someone who was probably a friend?"

Even though Sydney was inclined to agree, she could sense that Marshall was hiding something., and she could guess what. "Have you authenticated the footage?"

"I'm telling you, this has all the makings of a cover story," Marshall told them a little frantically. "It's Dealey Plaza all over again!"

"Marshall," Jack countered.

Marshall swallowed. "I couldn't detect any sign of tampering," he told them reluctantly. "Tape's genuine. But you know as well as I do that there are a dozen ways of faking a man's appearance."

"I'm inclined to agree," Sydney told them, "but right now we have to proceed under the idea that Mulder is the bomber, and concentrate our effort on locating him."

A split second later, a message flashed across Jack's main screen. "Unfortunately, it's going to be more complicated," he told them.. "I just got an interagency APB. The Bureau's just identified Mulder as the assassin, and sent out a general warning to all law enforcement agencies. Bring him in...Dead or alive."

**9:59:57/9:59:58/9:59:59/10:00:00**


	3. 10:00 AM TO 11:00 AM

**I warned you I'd take my time. Now give me some love, or there will be two months between posts next time.**

**CHAPTER 2**

**The Following Takes Place Between 10:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.**

Considering that Mulder had been responsible for the murder of twenty seven high-level employees in a government facility, a 'Shoot-To-Kill' order wasn't _that _out of left-field. However, as Jack read over the warning, the rest of their conclusions didn't make much more sense.

"Mulder, using his previous clearance obtained when he was an agent for the government, probably obtained access with negligible help from the inside," Jack read out. "Though it is possible there are fellow conspirators, we have reason to belief Mulder was the sole architect of the attack."

"What the fuck are they basing that on?' Sydney demanded. "Is there anything to support that?"

Marshall shook his head. "His file hasn't been updated in six years," he told them. "But his clearance had been revoked even before his trial. There's no way he could've gotten in to a government facility without assistance _then_, let alone now."

"They got anything for motive?' Vaughn asked.

Jack arched a brow as he read further. " 'Having frequently been a vehement protestor against government activities throughout his career in the Bureau, it is very likely that Mulder is striking back against the forces that he felt assailed the nation' " Jack moved away. "Makes him sound like a cross between Tom Hayden and Tim McVeigh."

"Tell me that this doesn't smack of a cover story!" Marshall pointed out. "Someone is trying to make Mulder the fall guy for the strike on the bureau."

"Considering all of our evidence points to Mulder as the sole assassin, I'd be hard pressed to come up with a better explanation." Nadia countered.

"How do we handle this now?" Sydney asked.

Jack didn't need to think long. "Stick with the original plan," Jack told them. "We have to locate Mulder first.. Difference is, since the military's probably going to be peeking in on all of our efforts, now we have to do this off the grid."

Nadia smiled at her husband. "How did I know you were going to say that?"

Sydney, on the other end of the coast, said, "Isn't that Plan A."

"Besides, we're already there." Vaughn argued. "And there's no way we can locate Mulder in the middle of this manhunt without some pretty significant tech support."

"Yeah, that is going to be..." Marshall trailed off. "Oh, you mean me. Well, um, humbled as I am, by this show of confidence, I will remind you that I'm really operating out of my basement, and that while my home equipment is awesome, I'm going to need to link-up with my office equipment, or, if it's not too much trouble, call in some other agent for help, hint, hint?"

"You just hacked into the FBI mainframe with nobody noticing," Jack reminded him.

"Yeah, and you had to give me your clearance in order to do it," Marshall reminded him.

"I think Edgar would probably give you the support you need," Nadia said, hoping to short circuit any further debate.

"Fine. Just be careful how to tell him." Marshall said. "From what I remember, the guy had some trouble keeping cool under pressure."

The same thought passed through all four agents mind's, and all stifled their impulse to joke. Instead, they focused on the task ahead.

Jack had to smile. "Would you prefer Chloe?"

"Edgar's fine!" Marshall quickly answered.

"Where do we start?" Vaughn asked.

"Known associates," Jack told them. "Skinner and Kersh were two of Mulder's closest allies. Either there are other people who helped Mulder with his attack, or someone is going after Mulder's associates, and they'll be next on the hit list."

At that moment Jack's cell rang. "CTU, Bauer."

On the other end of the line was a male voice with a strange drawl, a mix of New York and Georgia. Without any preamble, he said, "Have you been informed of the manhunt for Fox Mulder?"

Jack straightened up, his instincts kicking in—and they were flashing all lights red. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm not your enemy. More importantly, neither is Mulder."

Bauer grabbed a pad and started to write.

It didn't take Jack long to consider that if the people behind the FBI bombing wanted to cut off any aid to their framed target, it wouldn't be hard to put tags on anyone accessing Mulder's file... and even less difficult to try wheedling their way into the good graces of said potential aide. In less than a second, Jack thought of all this and answered, "We have evidence suggesting otherwise."

"The evidence is wrong, and I can prove it."

Jack had written down 'Start a Trace', and showed it to Nadia. "What sort of evidence?"

"I'm not telling you over the phone," the speaker said. "Northern end of Grand Central Station in thirty minutes."

"There are safer ways to do this," Jack argued.

'Only if you think the government is more trustworthy than I do."

"Why don't you trust them?"

There was a pause. "For the same reasons going through your head about now."

Despite himself, Jack found he was checking the security cameras. In this for only twenty minutes, already he was becoming as paranoid as internet bloggers that Marshall read.

"I'll be the guy in the blue suit and sunglasses," the voice continued. "And, by the way, come alone." Suddenly Jack was talking to an empty line.

Nadia came back in. "We didn't get it. Now would you mind telling me who that was?"

"I wish I could," Jack replied. "But he didn't tell me. Said he could prove Mulder's innocence if I meet with him at Grand Central in less than half an hour."

"How did he get your cell in the first place?' Sydney asked. "If I remember correctly, only five people knew that number, and you're currently talking with four of them."

"Which makes me even more curious to meet this guy."

Another co-worker --- perhaps another wife--- might have tried to stop Jack from going out. Nadia knew better. "Make sure you have some backup," she told him. "And wear a damn camera so I can keep an eye on you; I want to be able to say I know where he boss is in case Division calls."

Jack actually managed a smile for this. "I'll talk to Edgar on my way down."

**10:07:39/10:07:40/10:07:41**

Edgar Stiles was a good tech support, but he had a tendency to get a little worked up when something that didn't make much sense cross his desk. When the bulletin for the manhunt for Fox Mulder came over his screen, this pushed his buttons in a way that few other things could. Therefore, he didn't get nearly as nervous when Jack Bauer told him that they needed his help on something upstairs. He just tapped his keyboard.

As ordered, he dialed up to the central office. "Nadia, have you seen the line of bullshit they're trying to sell us about that bombing in the Bureau?" he asked

Nadia didn't try either soothe Edgar's nerve or pull rank. "How much do you know about Fox Mulder?"

"Not as much as I did when he was working at the FBI," he told her. "I heard about him through a couple of the publications that I subscribed , too--- you know the stuff that MUFON published."

"MUFON?"

"Mutual UFO Network." As if feeling like he'd admitting that he liked to light farts, he added self-consciously. "Their membership is over 20 million people world wide. Occasionally, you run into a couple of people from the watch list on their website."

""No one's judging how you spend your spare time," Nadia told him. "In fact, it may actually be able to help us out."

"Who's 'us'?" Edgar said even more concerned.

"Edgar," another voice came on the line, "it's Sydney Bristow. We briefly worked together when I was at CTU Los Angeles,"

"I know who you are," he told her. "What I don't understand is why you're..." He trailed as off as he remembered who had been on the casualty list he had read less than an hour ago. "This have to do with Director Dixon?"

"Short answer is yes." Sydney told him, with a brusqueness he hadn't normally associated with her. "Longer answer is we think that there's more to what happened at the Bureau then just Fox Mulder."

"Another government conspiracy?" Edgar asked.

"From what little we know, that's what Mulder was involved in," Nadia told him. "But if we're to have any chance of finding him before the wrong people do, we need to understand what the hell's he's involved in. For that, Sydney, Vaughn and myself need clearance to go through his casework."

"Haven't you got a friend in California who you trust more?" Edgar said with a shade of envy present.

"Hello, I'm also on the line," Marshall chose to speak up at that moment. "And while I'm flattered that you have such faith in my kung fu, I'll remind you my security level's been downgraded since I went into the private sector?"

"That never stopped you before." Edgar pointed out. "Or are you going to deny that you weren't the one who hacked into Air Traffic Controllers database when you were only seventeen?"

"As much as I'd love to wander down memory lane, gentlemen," Sydney pointed out, "we are working on a schedule. So, Edgar if you would just give Marshall your access code so we could proceed."

"I'm sending it to him now," Edgar told him, as he nonchalant tapped in the information, "but I can tell you right now that you're not going to get a huge amount out of the Bureau using conventional hacking."

"Why's that?"

"The X-Files--- the unit Mulder dedicated his career to--- consisted of files no other unit in the bureau would touch," Edgar continued. "And the tech support treated the files like they treated Mulder--- as if he smelled bad. He never got anywhere near the budget he deserved, or the technology. So when the Bureau began it's digital upgrade in the middle of the nineties, the X-files got next to no consideration."

"Holy shit, I forgot," Marshall groaned. "In the spring of 1998, there was some kind of fire in building's basement, and if hadn't been for Mulder's diligence most of the files would've been lost forever. Even then, they didn't hurry to digitize most of the data. When I joined, er, thought I joined the Agency, I tried looking up the Bureau's files, but they had no listing of any kind right up until 2002."

"What happened in 2002?" Sydney asked.

"X-Files were permanently shut down," Edgar told them. "Some kind of penalty for the remaining agents for testifying at Mulder's trial. They've been in cold storage ever since."

"How many agents worked the X-Files besides Mulder?" Vaughn asked.

"Not many," Edgar told him. "It's been years since I saw anything about the X-Files on any of the websites, but I do remember that less than half a dozen agents worked in the unit in the thirteen years it was actually active."

"Marshall?" Nadia asked.

"There was only one other agent there the bulk of the years that they were open," Marshall said thoughtfully. "I think her name was Scully. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that she was Mulder's partner the whole time she was at the Bureau."

"All right, if we can't get the data from the main unit, we'll liberate their personnel files," Vaughn said. "They've got to have some data."

"Yeah, but it won't help much," Edgar pointed out. "Like I said, the X-Files was one of the least popular units there, and considering the nature of the work Mulder did, I doubt there's an acting director there he didn't piss off at one point or another. Those files are going to be filled with slander."

_Mulder's starting to sound like my kind of agent, _Sydney thought to herself. _Too bad we seem to be on opposite sides of the fence. Then again, how many times was I there, too? _"Were any of those superiors an the meeting when the Bureau got hit?" she asked.

"Skinner and Kersh were," Marshall reminded them. "And they were the ones who handled Mulder for the bulk of his career." He trailed off as he realized that this might not help his case for Mulder. "Edgar, I can liberate those files. Is there anyone at the Bureau who could help us out?"

Edgar was about to say no, when suddenly he remembered something. Quickly he typed a name into the bureau listings. It took him less than half a minute to find what he was looking for. "Agent Bristow, how far are you and Agent Vaughn from the bureau?"

"About half a mile, Why?"

"I have a contact there. Low-level field agent named Leyla Harrison."

"Edgar, right now Sydney and I need to stay as far from the building as possible?" Vaughn pointed out.

"Then I'll arrange a meeting-place for you. When I tell her what you need, she'll be more than willing to give you help."

"Who is this woman?" Sydney asked. "Mulder's lover?"

'"Better than that. His expense agent. She knows every case Mulder and Scully ever worked on," Edgar told her, "And like me and Marshall, she'll do anything to see their good names restored."

**10:19:04/10:19:05/10:19:06/10:19:07**

"I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that these charges are crap," Agent Harrison said as she pulled out of the garage. "This report might as well come out of the shadow government files that Mulder and Scully chased for seven years."

That had actually been a little deeper than Edgar had wanted to go, considering how close to what he was in the process of doing. "You're sure it's a frame up?" he asked her.

"Look, Deputy Director Kersh was a son of a bitch," Harrison told him passionately. "He did everything short of running Mulder out of town on a rail. Pushed to his limits, maybe Mulder would shoot him. But he wouldn't view all the lives of those people as acceptable collateral damage, and he certainly wouldn't do it if Walter Skinner was in the room."

"What about the tape? You got an explanation for that?"

By now, Harrison was pulling out into traffic, making sure her ID was visible. "Someone use an advanced version of Photoshop?" she asked. "And even if the tape _was_ genuine, I think there are ways that the powers that be could have made it work."

"Care to clue me in?"

"You called me; that means you've got a pretty good idea already," Harrison told Edgar. "Your friends with the Agency; they're the ones I'll have to sell, and if Mulder couldn't convince anybody in twelve years, I don't know what I can manage in ten minutes."

Edgar had heard enough of Leyla's tales to know that she wasn't exaggerating by much. " Agents Bristow and Vaughn have more open minds than a lot of the people at the Bureau," he told her honestly. "However, now is not the time to tell them the valiant stories of Mulder and Scully. Answer their questions, and don't go on sidetracks."

"Got it,"

Agent Harrison's skills as a field agent had improved rapidly in the years since Mulder and Scully had left the Bureau, and it took her less than thirty seconds to make out the people she was looking for roughly a block east of the Kennedy Center. "Time for me to make my pitch. I realize that this goes against all interagency protocols, but if you could keep me informed of what happens, I'd be grateful."

"One tech freak to another, you don't even have to ask," Edgar hung up.

Agent Harrison got out of her vehicle about a block away from the woman she had spotted. She put her gun in her holster, but desperately hoped that she didn't have to use--- she was capable with fire arms, but her shooting wasn't much above the level of an accountant.

"Call me crazy, but I think that's her," Sydney muttered to her husband.

To be polite, Agent Harrison looked the kind of agent who should be stuck behind a desk. Her bearing and mannerisms were of someone who had been handling forms and documents for most, if not all of her career.

"Agent Harrison?" Vaughn asked.

"Shh!" The nervous blonde told her. "I'm pretty sure I wasn't followed, but you can never be certain of these puppet masters."

Sydney might have found her paranoia amusing if she hadn't lived so much of her life unknowingly and knowingly under surveillance. "Edgar tells us that you know s lot about Agent Mulder."

"I know a lot about the X-Files," Agent Harrison countered. "I processed every report Mulder and Scully ever filed. Beyond that, and an odd meeting with them seven years ago, I never really exchanged two words with them."

"So you don't believe they did this?"

"Of course not!" Harrison whispered with the indignity that Sydney was starting to associate with the X-Files zealots. "Mulder and Scully were the subjects of a massive manhunt for the last seven years! The last thing they would do is stick their heads in the lion's mouth, let alone do something like this.

"Have they made any effort to get in touch with anyone else at the Bureau?" Vaughn asked.

"They didn't have a lot of friends in the Bureau. Or out of it, for that matter," Harrison told them thoughtfully.

"Is there anything in the X-Files themselves that might explain what's happening?"

Harrison looked around twice, then produced a computer microdisk. "This is really confidential," she told them. "Just for having this, I could get into serious trouble, but someone had to see that all of their work didn't turn to dry rot in some damn storage unit."

"What's on this?" Sydney asked.

"Listings of every file Mulder and Scully worked on from 1993 to 2001," she told them. "Of special note are the cases tied to the government conspiracy that they spent years trying to unravel.

"I'll see if Marshall can filter through this," Vaughn said, as he took the disk, and removed his cell from his jacket.

"Is there anything we should look under?" Sydney asked "Any known associates?"

"Unfortunately, a lot of the people that they worked with on or about the X-Files met untimely ends," Harrison told her. "That's what happens when people get too close to the truth. Skinner was one of the few they had left. It wouldn't have made any sense to kill him"

"Any other associates?"

"Let's see," Harrison thought out loud "Diana Fowley's dead, Jeffrey Spender's been off the map, presumed dead, Agent Doggett and Reyes are off are out of the country working bio-terrorism."

"All these people worked on the X-files at one point?" Sydney asked.

"Not for long. Longest stint were Doggett and Reyes. They were there a year and a half."

"So Dana Scully's the agent who worked the X-Files longest?" Sydney asked

Harrison hesitated for the first time. "How thorough a briefing have you gotten?" she asked. "Dana Scully was Mulder's partner for seven years. She did everything possible to keep Mulder from landing himself in prison while he was working for the Bureau. Sacrificed her career, her family, her health, everything for him and the work."

"Really?" Sydney asked. "Was their relationship more than partner?"

Harrison actually looked a little pissed at this. "There was a pool by some of my less reputable colleagues as to when exactly they started sleeping together," she admitted reluctantly. "As if sex was the only thing that could inspire that sort of devotion."

This was a little close to home, so she decided to drop it for now. "Where's Scully?"

"She disappeared the same day Mulder escaped from the Bureau," Harrison told her with some defiance.

"Syd," Vaughn spoke up. "We've got another problem."

"Now what?"

"One of the few associates Mulder had who wasn't connected to the Bureau was Senator Matheson of Connecticut," Vaughn told the two women. "According to the disk, he was one of his earliest supporters."

"This story doesn't end well, does it?" Sydney asked.

"Before the bomb went off, there was a security alert," Vaughn told her. "Matheson died on the Senate floor of an apparent stroke."

Harrison recovered first. "Someone's trying to eliminate all of Mulder's former allies in one fell swoop," she told him. "Hell, they might be coming for me next!"

"Somebody's operating from a list, that's for sure," Sydney said gently. "In either case, we need to find Mulder. And given what you've told us, the easiest way is to find Scully. Any ideas?" When Harrison still hesitated, she added: "It's maybe the only way to protect them."

Harrison's resolve didn't last. "Her mother has an address in Georgetown," she told them. "Should be somewhere in Scully's personnel file." As Vaughn continued to look through the disk, she added: "He couldn't have done this. It's not who he is!"

Sydney had only seen a couple of things that inspired this level of devotion, and they'd all been tied to Rimbaldi. What did _Mulder _do to inspire such loyalty?

**10:31:39/10:31:40/10:31:41/10:31:42**

The majority of the morning rush had been over for a while, and Grand Central was little more than half full., but there were still a lot of people around. Jack wondered again why his mystery caller had demanded a meeting in such a public place. There were obvious concerns for safety, but for whose?

Suddenly, he saw the blue cap and sunglasses, They were on a man seven or eight years his senior, with dark brown hair, and an expression that looked like it was chiseled out of granite.

Jack brushed some imaginary lint off his collar, which was the signal to the men watching this from the security room that he had spotted the target. Slowly, he began to walk forward, but before he had gotten more than ten feet., the man spoke: "Agent Bauer?"

Silently impressed that his mystery guest had made him first. "You called my office?"

"I called you," the mystery man spoke. "I wanted to keep this below board for a reason."

"Who are you?"

The man reached into his jacket pocket and produced a billfold. " Agent John Doggett, FBI" he told Jack. "Bio-Terrorism."

That was twice Jack had been taken by surprise. "If you're with the Bureau, why all the tap dancing?" Jack said. "There are easier ways to do this."

"You know as well as I do that you don't always do the easiest things."

"Let's try this a different way," Jack asked. "How did you get my private number?"

"Through Curtis Manning. We served together in the first Gulf War, and he owed me a favor," Doggett told him. "Though if he knew why I wanted the meeting, he'd never have helped me."

"Why did you call me, Agent Doggett?"

"The government agency you work for is hunting Mulder for the bombing in DC earlier," the FBI Agent countered. "I'm telling you right now that Mulder was not responsible for those deaths."

"So I keep hearing," Jack said with some sarcasm. "What's your excuse?"

Doggett paused. "Because I led the first manhunt for Mulder, and the man I knew who never have turned on the government like this."

Jack had to admit this was getting complicated. "Mulder was under suspicion for?"

"He went missing in Oregon in 2000," Doggett said. "Turned out he was abducted."

"By who?"

Doggett hesitated longer before replying this time. "Not who, Agent Bauer. What."

Up until Jack had not really considered it important what kinds of mysteries this Agent Mulder had spent his time unearthing. Now he was beginning to think he'd been thrown into some sector of the lunatic fringe. "What are we talking about, Agent Doggett? Little green men?"

"I saw some," Doggett said seriously. "There was nothing little about them."

Jack was maintaining a poker face, but some of his disbelief must have shown through because the other agent changed tactics. "Hey, I didn't believe it either at first. Then, after I spent some time looking for Mulder, they stuck me in the basement with his ex-partner, and I started to find out that the bullshit he had been bragging about actually had some basis in reality. Then I paid the price for believing in what Mulder did."

"You still have a job," Jack pointed out.

Now Doggett gave a bitter laugh. "I've spent the last six years examining every purchase of industrial chemicals in the asshole of America. Occasionally, they'll send me out to the harbor on some terrorist detail. Only reason I learned about the hunt for Mulder was through an old contacting D.C. I'm on the outside looking in, Agent Bauer, and it's all because I helped Mulder."

Jack knew enough about the Bureau hierarchy that this only happened when directors wanted to punish somebody. Then again, it was typical Bureau for a director to screw someone over just because he defied a SAC's fragile ego."What did you do?"

"I testified for him at his trial," Doggett paused. "Then I helped break him out of prison."

"You just confessed to a felony," Jack told him.

"That's the least of my concerns right now. You know who helped me liberate Mulder?" Doggett asked. "Skinner and Kersh."

Suddenly, a very realistic possibility was going through Jack's head. "Is that why you called me? You wanted protection?"

""That's part of it," Doggett admitted. "Whoever planted the bomb in DC had to had the backings of people high in the food chain. That's one of the reasons I went to you."

"Why?"

"You have the ear of the President. And if these people have gotten their hooks into David Palmer, this country is truly fucked."

"No one has their ring in the President's nose," Jack assured him. "But say I buy your story. I'm going to need a lot more than your say so to call him in on this."

"That's the other reason I called," Doggett replied. "I've basically burned thorough all my IOU's in every law enforcement agency in the country, and right now, that's what I need to do help me. But I also can't trust them too much. Basically, I need the government's assets without them learning about it. Curtis told me you're tops at skating around the edges of the system."

Jack had hoped this part of his rep wasn't public. "Let's say I am, and that I believe your story," he said slowly. "What do you need my help for?

"Locating Mulder before they do."

**10:38:46/10:38:47/10:38:48**

Sydney and Vaughn decided to take separate cars to Margaret Scully's apartment. In the meantime, they told Marshall and Edgar to start running DMV, credit card purchases, and ID scans anywhere looking for any sign of the two former FBI agents. They knew, of course, that since Mulder and Scully had spent the last seven years hidden from the government that the searches would probably be exercises in futility, but they had to start somewhere.

Vaughn had Harrison ride with him, while they went over the electronic version of the files for some kind of clue as to what the two agents were tied into.

"Edgar said that you could explain how Mulder managed to get past security into the Hoover building," Sydney said over her speakerphone.

"I can tell you what I think happened," Harrison told them, "I can't promise you'll believe it."

_Clearly someone who never lived our lives for the last decade. _"Try us," was all Sydney said aloud.

"The major conspiracy that Mulder spent his career pursuing, and that the other agents all tried to follow up dealt with the existence of extra-terrestrial life, and how our government has been conspiring to cover it up," Harrison began.

Even after getting the abbreviated version of Mulder's career, Sydney was having a hard time buying this. "Our government?"

"According to the files, Mulder unearth evidence that it was world-wide--- Nazi experiments, Japanese scientists after Hiroshima, Soviet double agents--- whole melting pot."

"I'm sorry, I've been following government conspiracies for awhile," Nadia said. "I even lived through one, and even I'm having a hard time buying this."

"Then you're not going to like the next part either." Harrison took a deep breath. "Though I can't prove it, there is a strong possibility that something was impersonating Mulder"

"Something?"

"An alien." Before anyone could react to this, Harrison plunged ahead. "There are several examples in the files of aliens who were able to change their appearance so they could impersonate anyone they wanted."

"You're telling me that a little green man managed to get inside the Bureau," Sydney said, chewing this over.

"The aliens are humanoid in appearance," Harrison went on stubbornly. "with superhuman strength, and a toxic biological substance running through them instead of blood. If someone had tried to stop it, there would've been dead people at the Bureau before the bomb went off."

_Toxic blood? Didn't I see that alien flick? _Vaughn thought. "I've seen a lot in my years at the agency, and I'm having a hard time buying this," Vaughn told her.

"Is that so? " For the first time Harrison was starting to sound indignant. "How do you think Mulder got into the building? You really think that the security people at our agency are so lax that they let a man they've been searching for into our headquarters without telling anyone?"

"Mulder clearly still has allies at the Bureau," Vaughn pointed out. "Someone could have cleared it with security."

"Really? You have any footage of Mulder coming in or going out of the Bureau?" Harrison countered. "You have him anywhere on the cameras _except_ planting the bomb?"

"Uh, she's got a point," Marshall suddenly spoke up. "I've gone over a lot of the footage, and I can't find any other shots of him in the building."

"But if the aliens did it, they could've used the ID of anyone walked right in, and walked out," Harrison had a sense of triumph about her.

There was a crazy logic to this theory that Sydney was quite willing to give into yet. "Say you're right. An alien is the one who impersonated Mulder Why would he blow up the Bureau in the first place? Is there anything in the X-Files to indicate why they would make such a concentrated attack on so many agency directors?"

That stymied Harrison. "I haven't figured that part out," she admitted. "But the conspiracy never acts without a reason."

Vaughn wasn't sure how to answer that, so he dealt with a more pertinent fact. "We're here," he said pulling up to the curb

"I'm telling you this is a waste of time," Harrison told them. "Even if by some chance Mulder and Scully are in D.C., there's no way they'd come here."

"Why not?" Sydney asked.

"Scully's older sister, Melissa, was accidentally killed the last time that they were on the run. The last thing that Scully would do was risk the lives of what's left of her family."

Edgar, who had been going through his security and traffic camera footage quietly and unobtrusively, spoke up. "Then they must be in troubled times, because there's an ATM camera half a block from here, and I have Dana Scully walking past it half an hour ago."

"Any security footage going into the building?" Nadia asked.

"No, but there's nothing covering the fire exit or laundry entrance."

"So Scully's here. Doesn't mean Mulder is."

"We find her; we'll find him," Marshall said reluctantly. "The two of them have been through too much to be apart now."

_Now all we have to do is grab a fugitive who managed to spent the last seven years eluding the entire federal government with two agents in a ten block radius, _Sydney thought. _Should be a piece of cake._

**10:49:22/10:49:23/10:49:24/10:49:25**

**"**You're telling me that you and Agent Reyes have been in contact with Mulder and Scully ever since they went on the run?" Jack asked Doggett, as they got into his car.

"Every now and them we would receive an email communication that would be impossible to back-trace,"Doggett admitted.. "For all I knew, they were sending them from the Antarctic "

"Did he keep in touch with anyone else from the Bureau?"

For the first time, Doggett looked at Jack as if he were crazy. "How many friends in the government do you think he had left?"

"Deputy Director Kersh---"

"If Kersh were on fire--- which , now that I think of it, he is--- no one I know would piss on him to put it out," Doggett argued. "As for Skinner, any time he could pass information on to us--- which wasn't often; heading the X-Files didn't exactly help his popularity--- he was send it through me, and I would make the electronic equivalent of a dead drop. One time electronic address, never usable before or again" He shook his head. "Ain't technology grand?"

Jack was just pulling into traffic when he contacted his security people on his earpiece. ""Alpha 1, this is Bauer, any problems pulling out?"

There was no response. "Alpha-2, why is your partner not picking up?"

Nothing.

Jack turned to Doggett. "What kind of route did you take getting here from your office?"

The FBI agent was a quick study. "I took a pretty complex path, but I didn't see anybody en route or at the station," he told him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw a black Mercedes driving at least fifty. He had just enough time to yell "Get down!"

Doggett ducked, and Jack floored the accelerator n instant before the shots were fired. The window for the car were bulletproof, but Jack knew that there was far too much new ammo out there to see if they would repel all of them.

"Who else knew about this?" Jack demanded, as they raced down 42nd Street.

"Just Monica!" Doggett shouted

Jack wanted answers, but right now they had to get the hell out of there. "Call Agent Reyes, and tell her to get out of the Bureau!"

"We have to get her out---"

"We have to worry about ourselves right now!" Jack hit the speedial.

Nadia answered. "Jack? What's happening"

"They followed Doggett! My back-up is dead, and we're being chased! I need the coordinates for the nearest safehouse!

Nadia managed to delegate her alarm. "All right! The nearest one is at 53rd and Madison! It's got a jewelry store has a front! I'll warn them right now!"

"All right, and track down Agent Reyes! They seem to be going after people who knew Mulder was out;. She's last on the list! We need to keep her safe until we can figure out what the fuck is going on!"

Nadia got off the phone, and ran over to Edgar. "I need you to find the cell number for Agent Monica Reyes, and get her on the line"

"I'm in the middle of coordinating a grid search for Sydney----"

"Hand it off to Marshall! " Nadia demanded. "Right now, I have to get Jack some backup to assist without telling them why he needs it!"

Edgar couldn't help but ask "So you think Mulder is being set up."

"I'm not conceding anything Edgar! Jack just did his usual dance with protocol, and now I need to ask for help without District finding out," Nadia told him. "Besides, right now I'm having a hard time trusting any one."

Nadia didn't realize she'd just used Fox Mulder's favorite phrase.

**10:55:40/10:55:41/10:55:42**

Margaret Scully's apartment was on the fourth floor of the building. There were security cameras in the lobby, showing her going in less than ten minutes ago, but there was no sign of Mulder., either outside or inside the building. With one phone call, Vaughn could have sealed the area off, making a grid search easier, and, at the least trapping Dana Scully.

Sydney didn't want to do that. She had no idea what was happening in New York, and if she had, it would only have increased her desire to keep this on the down low for as long as possible. Something was rotten with the entire situation, and until they actually had Mulder, she didn't want any remnant of the Agency or the military anywhere near it.

"DC Plate FR4-187Z," she whispered in to her cell.

Across the country, Marshall did his magic with the DMV. "That's Heather Wallace. She has an address one block over."

"Anything from one block over?"

"Vaughn's not having much more luck," Marshall told her. "That's assuming he's waiting for her at all. If you're right, he might be halfway to Baltimore by now."

Sydney didn't think she'd ever heard Marshall so snarky. She was about to ask if he was keeping company with Chloe, when she saw something that didn't quite fit. "Standby, I may have something."

The car that had attracted her attention was not remarkable---- a blue Toyota with a Hertz rental sticker on the back windshield. However, the car was brand new but the license was tarnished and scuffed

"Tell Vaughn to meet me at the corner. I'm checking something else." She began stroll slowly the hundred feet she was, but just as she reached the trunk, the driver pulled out fast.

"Fuck!" she muttered to herself. There was only one way to keep that vehicle there. Unfortunately, it might just as easily kill the driver. She dropped to one knee, and fired two precise shots at the back tires.

She hadn't fired her weapon in more than a year, but her aim was still true.. The car screeched to a stop, mercifully just short of a lamppost.

"Place your hands on your head, and step out of the---"

But before she could finish her sentence, she heard the sound of a gun behind her.

"I'm not a violent person, but I just learned my mother is dying, and I'd like nothing better than to work out some aggression," a short, red-haired woman with steel in her voice told her. "So drop your weapon, or this will get ugly fast."

**10:59:57/10:59:58/10:59:59/11:00:00**


	4. 11:00 AM To 12:00 PM

**CHAPTER 3**

**The Following Takes Place Between 11:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.**

One of the things that Sydney had managed to learn in her years in the field was to quickly assess an opponent's level of threat. The first thing that passed through her mind when she looked over Dana Scully was uncharitable but accurate: _You're fucking kidding me._ She had at least six inches and twenty pounds, not to mention eight or nine years, on this former FBI agent. Even though she hadn't been in a straight out fight for more than a year didn't change the fact that she could probably kick this woman's ass.

Nevertheless, Sydney didn't spin around, kick the gun out of Scully's hand, and start a fight. Neither, however, did she follow the woman's instructions. "You're holding your weapon on a federal agent," she told her. "This is not a smart move."

"Bullshit," was Scully's response.

"I'd show you my ID but my hands are full at the moment," Sydney countered. "Plus right now, I'm not sure that would convince you I'm on the level."

There was a definite hesitation before Scully asked another question. "Are you with the Bureau?"

"CIA," Sydney told her, not sure whether this helped or hurt her. "Sort of. Long story."

Being accustomed to long stories, Scully circumvented a Mulder-like conversation by simply asking, "What's the Agency doing looking for us?"

Sydney knew there was a trap in the response, but decided to play along. "Mulder's under suspicion for the bombing in the Hoover Building."

"There's nothing to that," Scully replied quickly. "I can provide an alibi for him for the last three hours."

"All due respect, you're not someone who can be expected to be objective right now," Sydney pointed out. "And even if that were true, both you and Mulder are still federal fugitives. We'd have to bring you in automatically."

There was a definite hesitation in Scully this time. Sydney could have used it to disarm her but chose not to. She wanted to play this out a little more, and she had just seen something out of the corner of her eye that gave her reason for remaining balanced.

Scully saw it, too, but Vaughn's movements were a bit quicker than hers. Her husband had just emerged, weaopn drawn and train on the redhead.

"Put your hands up, Dr. Scully," Vaughn said.

There was another hesitation. "I could still kill your partner before you could kill me."

"You won't do that," Vaughn said. "You took two oaths, one as a law enforcement official, one as a doctor, and I know that they mean something to you."

"If you've read my file closely enough to know I'm a doctor, you should also know that I've killed before," Scully spoke with a lot less conviction. "And I haven't been either of those in years."

"You also care a great deal about Fox Mulder," Vaughn reminded her, "and you obviously still want to protect him. If you die, you won't be able to do that, and I know you don't want to leave him alone."

Sydney was pretty sure that Scully was about to relent, but she never got a clear idea because then someone totally unexpected spoke up.

"Is Scully under suspicion?"

Mulder must have been a lot quicker that Sydney had expected, because he had managed to get out of the car without her noticing.

"Not for the bombing, no," she told him with no other reaction. "But you have to know that she's been aiding and abetting for the past seven years. We can't just let her walk away from this."

"Mulder, don't be an idiot!" Scully spoke up. "These are not the kind of people who make deals!"

"You let Scully walk away from this, I'll admit to everything," Mulder went on regardless. "I won't fight you on any of this."

Two thoughts went through Sydney's mind simultaneously. _These are not the actions of a stone cold killer _and _What kind of people do they think we represent? _

Vaughn glanced at Sydney, who was too busy keeping track of Scully and Mulder. He looked back to Mulder and asked, "Did you do it?"

Sydney winced internally. Sydney wanted to play the hand she'd been dealt, accept the deal and run...no wonder her husband's handle was _Boyscout._

However, both Scully and Mulder blinked, and their tension visibly decreased—obviously, Vaughn's question alone was a good sign. "Does that really matter?" Fox asked.

Vaughn cocked his head slightly. "Last time I checked, the courts were sort of picky about that."

Scully lowered her weapon slowly, Vaughn's moving simultaneously. Sydney ran over to the car, and grabbed Mulder and patted him down only to realize she didn't have any cuffs. She decided to let that go for now. She stepped away, and he turned to lean against the car...Mulder already wondering why he wasn't bound, gagged, and had a SWAT team descend on him like locusts.

"Before I agree to anything, you and I need to have a talk," she told him. Mulder nodded. "Vaughn, call Jack. Tell him we have Mulder but not to alert anyone else right away."

"Right."

Sydney and Mulder walked around the corner. The second they were out of sight, Sydney took out her phone.

"If you're going to do this, I'd appreciate you're making it quick," Mulder remarked dispassionately. "I'm really tired of the chase."

Sydney wasn't sure she'd heard right. A third thought occurred. _Who do these people think they've been running from? _"That's not how I do business," she said, even as she dialed on her cell. "Much as you may wish it."

"Believe me, Agent Bristow," Mulder said with that same sense of tiredness, "you can't imagine the things I wish for."

**11:08:17/11:08:18/11:08:19**

There had been no further shooting since Jack had started to take the most complex route possible to the safehouse, but he didn't assume for a second that he'd lost them. They might have eased off because they didn't want to fire weapons in public, but he wasn't much assuaged by that thought--- these people had proven they weren't shy

As they pulled in the back entrance, Jack got on his cell. "We're here, " Jack said simply "I need the authorization code."

"Got it. 651928482901."

Jack punched in the code, and waited as the double blast doors slowly rose up, revealing the door. "Have you reached Agent Reyes?" Jack asked, as he got out of the car

"She was still at the New York Field office," Nadia told him. "We got agents picking her up now. "

Jack reached the safe-house door. "Entrance code."

"7581." As Jack punched it, Nadia lowered her voice. "I just got a call from Vaughn. They found Mulder."

"Where was he?"

"Apartment complex Scully's mother lives in. He tried to run; Sydney shot his tires out; Scully pulled a gun on Sydney, and Mulder turned himself in so that he can protect her." "

"Not exactly the mark of a guilty man," Jack said thoughtfully. "Or of a man whose being pursued by the government under penalty of death. He give any explanation?"

"He wanted to protect Scully, who I assume he's been sharing a bed with for at least the last eight years."

"You get anything else that might help you out of the files you downloaded?" Jack asked.

"It's a mess," Nadia admitted. "Harrison was obviously using second hand information, and she did the best she could, but even if we had Mulder's help, it would takes days to make sense out of this. And, for all we know, the people who've been chasing Mulder may have simply decided to run a hit list."

"There were easier ways to erase Skinner and Kersh without this level of destruction," Jack pointed out. "Every agency in DC has been thrown into chaos, which will cause ripples throughout the country. There's got to be more to the attack then this."

By now he and Doggett were inside. "Does Agent Doggett know anything?" Nadia asked.

"I'm not sure what he knows," Jack admitted.

"You could ask him." Doggett had spoken for the first time since they had pulled out of Grand Central. "Not that I'm not grateful to you for saving my life, but considering that one of the things I asked for was to find Mulder, I'd kind of like to know what the fuck he's doing in the one place he never should've come back to."

"When was the last time you made contact with him?" Jack asked.

"A month ago," Doggett told him.. "He asked me to try and pull data out of the Congressional calendar."

"Pertaining to what?"

"He wouldn't tell me." Jack thought he was keeping his poker face, but some of his skepticism must have shown through because Doggett then added. "I know how paranoid this must seem, but trust me, I was probably better off not knowing."

"Did he give any hint?" Jack pressed.

"Intercontinental shipping manifests over the past few months."

"What exactly was being shipped?" Jack pushed.

"He never said directly, but I did some checking of my own," Doggett told him. "Took a lot of work, but I finally found out they all came from areas with oil deposits discovered over the last year."

Now Jack was confused. "How does any of what Mulder doing revolve around oil?"

"I'm not sure I understand either," Doggett admitted. "But considering what I learned on the files, they may not have uncovered Texas tea."

**11:13:59/11:14:00/11:14:01/11:14:02**

Sydney wanted to interrogate Fox Mulder, but since bringing him anywhere was out of the question, she'd have to improvise. She therefore called Edgar and asked for a location of the nearest empty building.

Edgar had gotten very quiet when he heard that, but gave her the location. He may not have approved of a Jack-like interrogation of Mulder, but he was hundreds of miles away. All he could give was moral support. Sydney hadn't revealed that she would only go to work on Mulder if he got particularly difficult.

With a simple lockpit set, she broke into the basement of a nearby apartment. The furnishing were moldy, but unless Mulder had a deathly allergic reaction, he'd have to suffer through it. Period.

"So you're not going to bring in the authorities," Mulder said as she found a chair and pushed him into it. 'This is not how I expected it ending."

"I don't know who you think I am," Sydney told him as she cuffed his hand to the banister next to the chair, "but me and my partner may be the only people in DC who don't want you dead."

"What do you want then?"

"Answers. And if you give them without a fight, maybe you can walk out of here a free man."

Mulder actually laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. "As you pointed out, Agent Bristow, I'm a fugitive wanted for murder, and long before that I was a pariah. I'll never be free."

"Then why did you come back to D.C?" Sydney asked.

"Three days ago, the last time that I received a dead drop from someone in the FBI, there was a note from Senator Richard Matheson."

"Who by coincidence died just before the bombing," Sydney told him.

"I have no doubt it was pre-meditated, but I wasn't responsible," Mulder told her. "Truthfully, I haven't given him a second thought in nearly ten years."

"He was one of your closest political allies."

"And then he betrayed me and Skinner to save his own skin," Mulder told him bitterly. "I hadn't even talked with him the last year I was here, and I certainly didn't think of him. He certainly was of no help to me either when I was kicked out of the bureau or hung up by my heels before that joke of a trial."

"Then why did you respond to a message that he sent?"

"According to Skinner, Senator Matheson was deeply upset about some of the legislation that government passed after 9-11, but for not for the reasons he gave in public. He believed that there are forces who used it as an opportunity to embed their own agenda."

"You could've gotten that off the news," Sydney told him.

"I'm not talking about the Patriot Act," Mulder countered. "No, this was far more benign and insidious. Something that could only be done in preparation of a greater strike. Something that was passing through legislation recently."

Sydney hadn't been sure what she was expecting, but this wasn't it. "That's what he needed to talk to you about? The legislative calendar?"

"If it had been only that, I would never have come within a hundred miles of here," Mulder replied. "But Matheson told Skinner that this was part of a larger plan. Something that would look like terrorism, but actually help lay groundwork for something else."

"And what was that?"

"He wouldn't tell me, even through backchannels," Mulder admitted. "However, he implied that it had something to do with information I found at Mount Weather, where as you may recall I was arrested."

Sydney had a distinct feeling she was about to cross a border. "And what did you find at Mount Weather?"

Mulder hesitated for a moment. Sydney was about to consider using force for the first time, when he finally spoke up. "The date at which colonization of this planet is about to begin."

And there it was. "Feel free to laugh in my face; God knows \everybody else does."

It was absurd. Insane. But was it any more insane than a man in the Renaissance designing superweapons for today? Manuscripts showing pictures of her as a Chosen One? A device that granted the user immortality? As much as she wanted to, Sydney found she couldn't dismiss it outright.

"Where do these aliens come from?" she found herself asking.

Sydney wasn't sure, but she thought that Mulder did a double take. "A galaxy far, far away," he said calmly. "What difference does that make?"

"Now's a very bad time to start cracking wise," Sydney told him, with some severity in her tone. "If what I saw in your files is to be believed, you've been chasing these conspirators for almost twenty years. You don't have any idea where they come from?"

"Doesn't matter where they come from; only matters that they're coming," Mulder countered. "When we invaded Iwo Jima, you think the Japanese cared if the soldiers were from California or Idaho?"

"All right, when do they get here?" Sydney didn't expect an answer to this either.

She was shocked when she got one. "December 21, three years from now," Mulder said as if this were old hat. "And if you believe the source—which I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure of—it's been set in stone for awhile."

Like most people who had visited a bookstore in the last ten years, she knew the theory of the date relatively well—2012 was supposed to be an ancient Mayan prophesy of doomsday. There was even one—rather bad—novel that had claimed aliens were to blame. Sydney wanted to sit down, but she didn't want to lose what little edge she still had. "What proof do you have of any of this?" she asked.

"Ever since I became a man on the run, I've been using whatever assets and help and I can find to gather information," Mulder told him. "But most of what I have is based on clippings, discounted studies, and rumor and hearsay. For better or for worse, my evidence was in the X-Files, and I haven't seen them in eight years. For all I know, they're lining the litter box of some Deputy Director's cat."

Sydney realized that this went against her training, but she had learned from Jack Bauer that sometimes you have to make it up as you go. "What if I told you that I could get you copies of all your files? Could show me the links then?"

Mulder blinked at this. "The X-Files have been closed down for years, Agent Bristow. Even I know that."

"You have one more friend in the Bureau then you think," Sydney told him "Turns out your files are forgotten but not gone. I've got a computerized version of them available now."

"And what would I have to do in order to see my precious? Mulder asked straight-facedly.

_No wonder Marshall follows his work—he makes Lord of the Rings references in normal speech._ "You'd have to give me whatever data you have on Skinner's information. Something on whatever threat is taking place."

Mulder's expression soured. "I've been in Vancouver most of the last seven years. What little data I have is on my laptop, but it doesn't have anything on Skinner's data. In order to get it, I'd have to get inside the Bureau, and I don't think they'll let me back in, even if you were my guardian angel with a few divisions of angels."

"Who you says that you have to go in at all?" she countered.

Mulder's eyebrow went up. "What do you mean?"

"A lot's changed since you left the Bureau. We have ways of reclaiming data you wouldn't believe." Sydney said. "I get this data, you tell me whatever the fuck's going on here. Deal?"

Mulder didn't hesitate. "You really with the CIA?" he asked. "Cause even when I was with the bureau they treated me like dogshit."

"Let's just say that you're not the only one who wants answers," Sydney told him. "Or who think that someone's trying to cover it up. Between working for...the Agency...and with Jack Bauer, I'm not one to easily dismiss conspiracy theories."

Fox Mulder straightened. "Jack Bauer of CTU?"

"You know him?"

Mulder shrugged. "After his business with the Drazens and unmasking the people behind the LA nuke several years ago, you could say that he's my favorite conspiracy buster." He gave a little smile. "He's certainly had more success than I've had."

**11:24:45/11:24:46/11:24:47/11:24:48**

Over the years, in the Bureau and out of it, Dana Scully had gotten so used to Mulder disappearing on her or getting into some kind of trouble with authority that she almost--- but not quite--- knew not to be frightened by it. Even being held prisoner by the CIA (and Agent Vaughn had shown her the proper ID) while under suspicion for any number of offenses didn't seem nearly as frightening as the usual trouble Mulder had gotten her in on a weekly basis for much of her life. At least they weren't vampires, or killer telemarketers.

Now, as she waited for whatever the hell was going to happen next, Agent Vaughn, who had been on his cell for the last five minutes, spoke to her for the first time. "Why did you come back?"

"Excuse me?"

"You have to have known the apartment was being watched," he told her. "Even if you didn't know what had happened at the FBI, you knew someone would be waiting her to grab you. Why risk your mother's safety?"

"Because I never got a chance to say goodbye, Agent Vaughn," she told him. "Because after all of the horror that I put her through when I worked at the Bureau, she deserved to see me, and let me apologize for causing her so much pain before I disappeared again."

Vaughn, who had more than his share of people leaving him without explanation, sympathized, but knew comparing war wounds was not going to ease Scully's pain. Instead, he asked a practical question. "Where have you been hiding?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Scully asked tiredly.

"The government's capability to track people down has increased exponentially since 9-11," Vaughn said. "Hell, you were still at the Bureau when the groundwork started. If they were really looking for you, we should have located in you in a couple of months. Instead, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully haven't so much as spotted at a 7-11 in over seven years. The Taliban isn't that good at staying hidden."

"You want answers, I'm not the one to give them you," Scully replied. "If you want my best guess, considering all the time energy the government put into framing and convicting Mulder and I, they must have figured once we were on the run, we'd been neutralized as a threat. It's not like we've been that great a danger once we didn't have access."

Vaughn clearly wasn't satisfied with this reply, but before he could follow up, his beeper went off. It was Nadia. "What've you got?" he asked.

"Maybe another piece of the puzzle," she told him. "Someone took potshots at Jack while he was bringing Doggett in. They're both alive and pissed off. Someone is going after anyone who had some connection to the X-Files."

"Has Doggett added any useful information?"

"Perhaps," Nadia told them. "However, we may have another angle. A few minutes ago, we brought in Doggett's partner, Agent Monica Reyes."

"Has she got anything useful to say? Vaughn asked."

"She says she'll help us, but only if she talks to Mulder or Scully first. And since Sydney is currently trying to negotiate some kind of exercise with Mulder..."

"Why didn't she just call Scully herself?"

"Says she hasn't seen her since Mulder's trial," Nadia clearly didn't buy that, and Vaughn didn't appear willing to defend her virtue.

"This is not going to be a private conversation," Vaughn told her.

"She understands that."

Vaughn shrugged and turned to Scully. "You know what this is about?"

"You'll known soon enough," Scully said with that same level of exhaustion as she took the phone.

"Dana? You there?"

"Our time is precious, Monica," Scully began. "I don't think we should waste it on pleasantries."

"I'm so sorry about Skinner."

"Why? You had nothing to do with it," Scully managed to answer with ease, but there was still pain in her voice.

"Do you have any idea why these people are acting now?"

"Honestly, it's all happened so fast I haven't given it much thought," Scully said as openly as she could. "There's obviously a far greater plan her, but I'll be damned if I can see what it is."

There was a pause on the other end. "Mulder hasn't told you what's going on?" Reyes said with some disbelief.

"I know that there is some kind of major strike planned in connection with the data he found at Mount Weather."

Why was Scully being so vague? Because Mulder hadn't revealed his hand to him or to their friends? "You're telling me that you don't know?" Vaughn asked.

"Mulder had a lot of trouble revealing all the details to me when we were only partners," Scully told him. "Why do you think I did so many unscheduled autopsies?"

"I thought that he was past trying to protect you," Reyes tasked.

"For most things, he has. The only exception he's ever made is when things we're really serious." Scully paused. "I've got a gut feeling this is one of those times."

**11:33:25/11:33:26/11:33:27**

"I'm not sure that I can negotiate a deal with this," Jack told Sydney bluntly over the phone. "Considering how quickly he reappeared on the radar, they're not just going to take my word that Mulder's not behind this, especially when I try to tell him what we think is."

Sydney refrained from sighing as she sped around another car on the way to the J. Edgar Hoover building. That was were Skinner's hard drive was—assuming, as Mulder had pessimistically noted, that it hadn't been wiped yet—so that's where they had to be.

"I'm aware of that Jack," Sydney pointed out. "I'm also well aware that long before today, the entire federal government seems to be determine to blame Mulder for every mishap the government's experienced in the past twenty years."

"Glad to know my reputation precedes me even now," Mulder spoke up. "Mr. Bauer, you are aware, since you seem to know everything except what I had for breakfast this morning, that none of their cases would hold a drop of water in any other court?"

"You could only help yourself and Scully if you could tell us who the hell 'they' are," Jack argued.

"You think I'd have been in Canada all these years if I had any concrete evidence?" Mulder countered.

"You've been investigating them for a long time," Sydney countered. "You're telling me you don't even have a name?"

"These people don't have names, Agent Bristow," Despite everything that Sydney was doing for the man, Mulder's voice actually seemed to be getting colder. "Every time I got close to their identities, they tended to die. Apparently taking over the world doesn't call for a great pension plan."

At this point Agent Doggett, who'd been quiet so far turned to Jack. "Mulder, you weren't feeding me this data on a whim," he reminded him. "You must have had some other source who was feeding you."

"I already told you,. Agent Doggett---"

"Yeah, and we both know that's bullshit," he interrupted. "If working with Scully taught you anything, it was not to go out on a limb. You know something's going down today, and you're not being forthcoming to the people who might be on your side."

"Maybe I'm just a little upset to find that my life's work can be edited down to fit on a computer disk, and left open for the Thought Police," Mulder replied icily.

Jack didn't know why he was surprised that Mulder was something of a bleeding heart Luddite. God knows what he'd gleaned of the (admittedly biased) personnel reports Edgar had managed to pull off the Bureau backlog had indicated that. Bashing the people who had his life in their hands did seem like the kind of thing he'd do without a moment's hesitation.

"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why you're in government custody, and no one has tried to put a bullet in your brain?" Syd asked.

"My rugged good looks and boyish charm?"

Another joker. Wonderful. Sydney arched a brow. "And I thought you were part of the Jack Bauer fan club."

"Assuming that's him. Aside from that, I've long since given up trying to comprehend why the government does what it does," Mulder countered. "I assume you have some kind of use for me that, once accomplished, you'll dump me like a bad habit."

Both Sydney and Jack were clearly losing patience, so Doggett spoke up. "Mulder, do you think that what happened at the Hoover and to Senator Matheson are two unconnected events?"

"Of course not."

"Do you believe that they're the only strikes we will see today?"

Mulder didn't take long before answering, "No."

"Then you know as well as I do that you can't do this alone. Without these files, without CTU's access, you won't be able to figure out what the plan is or how to stop it."

"And how exactly are a bunch of agents trained in counter-terrorism going to stop the kind of shit that you saw just in the few months that you knew me?" Mulder countered.

"The normal government couldn't find you after a nationwide manhunt. We found you in less than an hour," Sydney answered. "I don't think you're giving us enough props."

Mulder didn't seem to know how to respond, so Sydney pressed on. "Well, we've just arrived at the Bureau. Maybe this will convince you we know what the hell we're doing."

Sydney pulled the car to a stop, and opened the glove compartment. "Put Marshall on the line."

"Okay, um, first, um, Mr. Mulder, can I just tell you what an honor it is the same room, well I mean we're actually on different coasts, so the same job as the man who really opened my mind on so many levels?"

"Marshall, just tell me how to set up the video uplink," Sydney said, taking as much patience as she could with her star-struck tech.

"Looks like a small gray marble. Run it through your beeper, and it should begin broadcasting images into the monitor."

"Excuse me?" Mulder asked, then was struck momentarily silent as she saw the image of Sydney appeared on the screen.

"Where can I get one of those?"

**11:42:17/11:42:18/11:42:19/11:42:20**

"You mind telling me why we haven't met up with my partner yet?' Doggett asked Jack bluntly

"Agent Santos is making sure that we have sufficient backup when they bring us in," Jack told him. "Considering the people who tried to kill us, I'd think you'd want as much protection as we can get."

"I'd be more comforted by that, Agent Bauer, if I wasn't pretty goddamn sure that some of the people you're calling on for help borrow cars from same motor pool that the bad guys do," Doggett told him.

"If you didn't trust them, why call the government at all?" Jack asked.

"When I was trying to get answers on the conspiracy, I learned that some of my closest friends were part of it," Doggett replied. "After that I learned if you can't have faith in your friends, sometimes the only people you can trust are strangers."

Just then Sydney came on the line. "I'm ready to go."

"Nadia's made the call by now," Jack told her.

Sydney walked right up to the same entrance where her husband had been denied admission over two hours earlier. This time, however, as she approached the entrance one of the guard's cells rang.

"This is A.D. Jana Cassidy," Nadia said over the phone to the agent guarding the door. "I just got off the phone with the Company. "They're sending an agent in to look over the crime scene. Sydney Bristow. I'm giving you authorization let her through. She should be there right now.

"Certainly, Director," the agent said as Sydney stepped forward. "I'll just need your clearance code."

As Nadia gave the code that Marshall had just hacked into five minutes earlier,. Sydney presented her ID to the front desk.

"All right, Agent Bristow," the gullible guard said. "You're cleared to enter."

As Sydney walked in, Mulder spoke into the miniature microphone, she was wearing. "I guess security has gone downhill at the Bureau," he told her. "Or maybe I just didn't know the right kind of people."

"My friends are in the process of hacking into the security camera," Sydney whispered. "However, all they've done is buy time. I've got at most ten minutes before the security snaps to attention and concentrates all their efforts on finding me. So I need you to tell me what I'm looking for and where to find it."

Mulder seemed willing to talk now. "All of the data that Skinner was going over should be on his office computer," he whispered. "I can tell you the file names, but it's got to be password protected and I don't have the foggiest idea what Skinner used."

"Still there, Marshall?" Sydney asked.

"I can't help you until you're at the hard drive," Marshall told them. "By the time, you get there I should be able to hack in."

"Where's Skinner's office?"

"Third floor, room 307."

As Sydney walked to the elevator, Marshall couldn't restrain himself. "So, um, did you really investigate that alien abduction in Klass County in '96?" he asked.

"So you read the book." Mulder didn't seem too thrilled that this had come up. "I never agreed to sit for it.."

"I didn't think that you had," Marshall told him cheerfully. "Mean the whole book was basically a fiction writer trying to break into a new field. I mean, the whole thing read as lunacy, but you came out the sanest one there."

"How'd you know I was in it? I never gave him permission to use my name."

"Reynard Muldrake?" Marshall chuckled. "Come on, a fifth-grader could've figured that one out."

"Marshall," Sydney said warningly, as the elevator doors opened.

"Working on it, Syd," he told her

Sydney had expected there to be some added security around Skinner's office, but surprisingly, no one was there. She shrugged it off.

Skinner's secretary was present, but not watching her desk; instead she was at the window, crying. "Excuse me, who are you?"

"I'm Agent Bristow with the CIA; I need to look at A,D, Skinner's computer."

There was now a look of concern. "What does any of this have to do with Walter?"

Suddenly, Sydney got a sinking feeling. "I'm not the first one who's come looking here, am I?"

"You're the fourth person to come here in the last three hours wanting to look at Skinner's computer, and no one will tell me why! They say it has something to do with why the bombing took place, but that makes no sense! Skinner's been on the outs with everybody here ever since the X-Files was shut down."

Sydney realized that Skinner's secretary was a, understandably bereft, and therefore vulnerable, and b, she might actually be helpful. "Look, um--"

"Cindy," the redhead told her.

"There's a possibility that Skinner may have been the target of the attack," Sydney continued. "It's also possible that the people who killed him, and everyone else who died in the Bureau today might be planning to do something much worse."

Cindy considered this for a moment. "He was pretty distracted when he went to that meeting," she told her. "Something had clearly been bothering him the last couple of days."

"You have any idea what?"

"Something he'd received in emails recently. But he wouldn't tell me about it." Cindy looked at her. "Does this have something to do with Mulder and Scully?"

Sydney considered this, then told the truth. "Yes."

"His password is F1F4G95," she told her without hesitation, as she unlocked the door to the inner office.

"Why are you doing this?"

"The X-Files was the joke of the bureau for thirteen years," Cindy told her. "But he never complained about it once. He respected Mulder, even if he didn't always believe him. Someone has to protect them now."

**11:51:33/11:51:34/11:51:35/11:51:36**

"Now that I've finally reached the Promised Land, it might help if I knew exactly what I was looking for," Sydney as she began checking through Walter Skinner's email.

"All of the emails I sent him were under the screen name. G. Hale," Mulder said over the microphone. "That'll take you as far back as the last three weeks. Whatever secrets Skinner was keeping have to be elsewhere on his hard drive."

"Unfortunately, a man in Skinner's position had a lot of shit on his plate as a matter of course," Sydney told him. "It'd take hours to go through this, and with our ladies help, I think we have maybe five minutes tops."

"Can't you just download it and have your Boy Wonder piece through it later?"

"Flattered as I am by that," Marshall said with some pride, "there's only so much I can do remotely. CTU, on the other hand---"

"I'll see what I can manage."

"Wait a minute," Mulder spoke up. "Scroll up three items."

Sydney did so. "What do you see?"

"It's in the file labeled 'Magic Bullet'."

"You're sure?" Sydney asked.

"It's a reference to some very late dear mutual friends who were devoted to finding the truth," Mulder told her. "Skinner hid it there."

As she was opening the file, Sydney heard an amplified voice that sounded hostile. "Why is the door to his office locked?"

All three people realized that Cindy had turned on the intercom that was on the Assistant Director's desk in order to give Sydney a heads up. "Please tells me there's another exit," Marshall spoke first.

"Shit. The files are encrypted!" Sydney was already downloading the files to a disk, but it was a big file and was going to take thirty seconds--- time she didn't have.

"Marshall, will you be able to decrypt these files?" Sydney asked

"Syd, you can't think like that!" Marshall said warningly.

"Get on the phone with Vaughn. Tell him to contact the White House and start working on an alibi."

At that moment, the door began to shake. _Come on, come on._

At last 'Download Complete' appeared on her screen. "Go!" Marshall shouted.

Sydney ran like hell to the back door. They broke in the front the second she had managed to open it. "Freeze!" two heavy set men yelled.

She could've surrendered and might have been able to walk away from this with some little trouble. What stopped her was the fact they went for their guns too fast to be sincerely interested in taking her prisoner. No, these were people with 'shoot to kill' written all over their faces.

Instead, she bolted down the hallway. "Marshall, I need the quickest way out of here!" she yelled.

"Second left, there's a fire exit!" he told her.

The halls were mostly empty--- no doubt they were still keeping it empty for the investigation. This made it a lot easier to run around the huge bruiser that was standing at the end of the hall...okay, a sideways stomp to his kneecap also helped.

She dashed left, fell to her knees, and ran down the stairs. "Where's the safest exit point?"

No response--- which made sense, as the earpiece was no longer in. She'd have to improvise. As she recalled, the back door wasn't that far from the firestairs.

She made it out the back door, but there was another problem--- three heavy-set men. Taking them down would not be a problem for her, even with the layoff, but there were still far too many people about, and a good many were agents who would only see a woman beating up three guys and intervene, with or without violence.

Fortunately, those same conditions had the thugs concern and they were hesitant as well. So she ran. And just as she was trying to find the easiest way back to her car, she saw something she almost didn't believe--- her vehicle pulling up

Fox Mulder rolled down the window. "Get in!"

Sydney needed no second bidding. As she did, the heavies broke out of their paralysis and began firing at her.

"How did you..." She trailed off, as she saw that Mulder had managed to hotwire her vehicle.

"It's amazing what they do for fun in the North," he said as they pulled out. "Please tell me you've got the data file."

She held up the flash drive. "I'm downloading that to Marshall. Hopefully, he'lll give us some answers."

Just then, her cell rang. " This is Sydney."

"Jeez, Syd, what happened?" Marshall said, in his worried tone. "I lost the earpiece and the camera went dead."

"Had to do some fancy footwork," Sydney said nonchalantly. "Managed to get out right."

"Good, cause you're going to have to keep running."

"What did you find on the disk?"

"Granted, I'm only translated the first three lines, but they're enough reason for concern," Marshall paused. "'First Strike, 5:30 PM. Manhattan."

**11:59:57/11:59:58/11:59:59/12:00:00**


	5. 12:00 PM TO 1:00 PM

**Chapter 4**

**The Following Takes Place Between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M.**

Vaughn had been watching Scully for nearly an hour and was still having no luck piercing her facade as to what the hell she and her lover had been doing while out of the reach of the authorities. He had tried sending Agent Harrison in, but the agent had adamantly refused.

"Mulder told you not to talk with her. That deal may not mean shit to you, but it means something to me, " she told him. "Besides, you still don't have any proof that they've done anything illegal, immoral or suspect."

Vaughn's expression didn't change, even though he was going through a period of disbelief that nearly reviled anything he experienced with SD-6 or APO. "You what the part where we have _him _on tape planting a bomb, or _her _running off with him after he was convicted of _murder_?"

Vaughn rolled his eyes and moved on. He might've argued the point further, but he had confidence that Sydney would be able to get what she needed from Mulder. Then they had gone o their little sojourn to the bureau, and left Vaughn almost out of it. It did, however, provoke a reaction from Scully.

"Your partner's left you without a word," she told him.

"Yes" he carefully replied.

"You're going through all the nightmare scenarios, and it's impossible for you to reach her?"

Vaughn wasn't sure where she was going.

"Congratulations, Agent Vaughn," she said with a trace of bitter humor. "You've just been ditched."

"It's nothing new." And at that very moment, his cell rang. He knew who it was without having to guess. "Syd, what the hell happened?" he asked. "Marshall loses audio and video for the Federal Building, and you go ten minutes without making contact!

"So it wasn't the smoothest operation I was ever a part of," Sydney told him. "I'm a little rusty after the layoff. Point is, we have what we need, and I think it would be in our best interest for you to make sure the nanny can stay all night," Sydney told him bluntly. "And while you're at it, call Nadia and my brother-in-law and tell them we're going to be seeing them a lot sooner then they thought."

"What did you find?" Vaughn asked. "And how much trouble did you get into getting it?"

"Well, I didn't use any force, lethal or otherwise, getting into or out of the Hoover building, Skinner's secretary basically gave me carte blanche in his office so I didn't violate any code getting the data out, and there's a pretty good chance that we were right about hostile forces within the Bureau," Sydney told him. "So we're not going to get in any _real _trouble. The internal bureaucracies of the FBI and the Agency may make this into a circle jerk, but we know enough people in high places to get around them."

"I'll give Jack the heads up," Vaughn told him. "Answer the question."

"Marshall will have a clearer idea," Sydney replied, "but the first thing he decoded was an attack scheduled for New York at 5:30 today."

Suddenly Vaughn remembered that the President was in New York. "You have any idea as to the larger plan?" he asked.

"Not yet, but I'm in the car with someone who can give it to us," Sydney said. "And since Mulder has lived up to his end of the bargain, tell Edgar to download a copy of the files to my computer. We give him that, he's willing to lay out everything he knows about whatever the hell's going on."

"All right, I'll text Marshall, and I'll get us the fastest jet out.," Vaughn told her. "Meet us at Dulles in fifteen minutes. Good job, Syd"

He hung up, and turned to Scully. "Your husband did his job, which means we have to go."

"We're not married, Agent Vaughn," Scully sounded a little dismissive even when she said this. "We've just been together so long it feels that way."

Vaughn took a good look at Dana Scully, saw her haggard expression and began to wonder what had caused this devotion even after sixteen years of pain and heartbreak. "We still have a plane to catch, and from what we got from Mulder, time is of the essence. So please."

As Scully was walking to the car, Agent Harrison spoke up. "I'm coming too."

"Agent Harrison, we appreciate your help, but we're already going to be carrying two civilians with us. We can't have a spare FBI agent along for the ride."

"Whoa, whoa," Harrison said with asperity that Vaughn didn't think she was capable of. "I've been the only agent defending their honor for the last six years. You can't just expect to walk away from two people---"

Vaughn didn't know how she was going to finish that sentence, but he did have an idea. "I'll tell you what. This is my office in the White House," he told her. "Go there, tell them you work with me. I'll keep you patched in for whatever comes down the rest of the day."

Harrison almost squealed with delight at this. "You know, they said that the worst sadists and cruelest people are the only ones who make it at CIA, but I don't believe that anymore. Thank you. So Much."

And with that Harrison almost floated back to her vehicle.

Vaughn didn't have the heart to tell her the description wasn't that inaccurate.

**12:06:49/12:06:50/12:06:51**

"5:30 here," Jack considered this. "Get anything else out of the file so far?"

'That was the easiest thing to decode," Marshall told them. "I didn't have much of a problem with the first few lines, but after that things got weird. The basic code structure is that of a shifting algorithm--- basically anybody with an ounce of intelligence in hacking could have done it. But after that, what you get is mostly gibberish. I thought it was a second layer of code, but I'm not having much luck getting past it."

"You've only been trying for five minutes," Doggett pointed out. "You think that maybe with a little more time you could figure it out?"

"Marshall's a code-breaker par excellence," Jack told him. "Ten minutes for him is nearly a week for anyone else. He can't break it; we've got a major problem."

At that moment, the cell rang. "Syd, that you?" Jack asked.

"I take it that you've gotten the file I downloaded," Sydney asked.

"Yeah, but it seems to be mostly gibberish," Jack told them. "If this really is supposed to have the secrets of the Pharaohs on it, I think we might have gotten the short end of the deal."

Mulder, who had been pouring over his files, chose that moment to speak up. "Agent Bristow, is there anyway you can send a copy of what we've got on to my screen?"

Sydney managed to do that without even lifting her eyes from the wheel. "What is this, some kind of new code?"

"Actually, I think it's an old one," Mulder barely had to glance at it for a few moments to recognize it. "Well, what we have here is your basic ' good news-bad news' scenario.' Good news is, I recognize the code that Skinner used on these files. Bad news is, you're going to have a hell of a time breaking it, even with my help."

"What kind of code is it?" Sydney asked.

"It's not code. It's Navajo. During World War II the U.S. government classified a lot of its defense secrets, and they did such a good job with it that not even other Navajo could interpret a lot of what they encoded. The only reason I recognize it is because in 1995, I was led to a digital tape which was encrypted that dealt with areas of my expertise."

"Now's not the time to be cryptic, Mulder," Jack told him. "We know damn well that your work dealt with ET and conspiracy crap."

"You know all that, and you haven't unilaterally deemed me to a dangerous lunatic?" Mulder actually seemed amused. "What exactly have Doggett and Reyes been telling you?"

"That you're not the kind of man who would orchestrate an attack on the federal government," Sydney told him, "even though your files are filled with you flouting, violating or just plain ignoring every government regulation imaginable."

"And you're still listening to me?"

Jack Bauer nearly smiled. "You'd be surprised at what we've seen in the past five years. But we don't have to explain ourselves. You do."

"Now we've given you access to your files," Sydney told us. "It's time you started leveling with us, Mulder, and tell us why I had through hell to find out what you already know."

Mulder still didn't seem to be getting this. "This is for real? You're not going to reveal yourself to be the ultimate heavies, pull over to the side of the road, and put a bullet in my brain?"

Jack and Sydney paused. Had they been in person, they would have exchanged a look. Was this guy for _real?_

"Agent Mulder," Jack began in his low, patient growl that would typically start an "aggressive interrogation", "we have put up with your paranoid tendencies for long enough. We believe that there is an existing threat to this country and that you are one of the few people who knows what the threat is, and how to contain it. You're still in a shitload of trouble from people we may not be able to protect you from. But if you help us, we will do what we can to see about balancing the accounts."

Mulder gave a bitter smile that Sydney had seen once too often for her taste. "Considering all that I've lost because of my search for the truth, I don't think there's anything that could make me end up even. I'll settle if I can just convincing the people in on this conversation that my cause is just."

Resisting the urge to tell Mulder in that sense he wasn't that far removed from a terrorist, Jack instead asked a more relevant question: "You're going to need proof, if I'm to bring this to the right people. What do you have to back up your story?"

"As if being chased by thugs wasn't a hint that something's not kosher?"

"You'd be surprised at the variations on _that _theme," Syd answered him.

Before they could get along any further, Mulder took out his cell phone. "I'm going to get you the number of a man named Danny Hosteen. His grandfather Albert helped translate the original MJ files for the government. He also helped me find palaces to hide the last few years. He can tell us what's on this disk." As Sydney took the number down, he added: "John, how close are you to the UN?"

"Probably less than twenty minutes, " Doggett told him.

"You think that's the target?' Sydney asked.

"No, but it's probably the surest bet at finding someone who can verify what I'm going to tell you."

**12:15:07/12:15:08/12:15:09/12:15:10**

"What do you mean, we don't have a translation program for it?" Nadia demanded.

"It's an archaic language that hasn't been used by our government since the 1940's," Edgar pointed out rationally. "And even though they've got a shitload of better reasons to be pissed at us than some of the other people we're watching, Navajo aren't exactly high risk as threats. You're telling me that your friend on the West Coast doesn't have a decoder ring for this?"

Nadia decided to ignore the jab at Marshall-- like so many techs Edgar was always sensitive about his work. Nadia leaned over his desk, hands flat on the blotter. "What about the Bureau of Indian Affairs?"

"That's my next stop, but there were only a few thousand windtalkers during the entire war. Shouldn't we be talking to some people higher up the food chain?" Edgar asked.

Nadia pulled back, straightened her jacket, and countered, "I've got a conference call with the President in the next five minutes. I'll have him decide what next step he deems appropriate."

That actually brought Edgar up short, but only momentarily. "Division's going to be ultra pissed that you leapfrogged about a dozen people in the chain of command, especially when they find out what we're basing this on."

"Since when have I ever given a shit what the people at Division think?" Nadia reminded him.

The smile that briefly appeared on Edgar's face disappeared when he looked up from his computer. "I'd hold off saying that, because it's look like they're here."

Nadia looked at the entrance. A group of men and women in suits were walking up to the entrance--- the usual Division parade. However, she didn't recognize half of the faces, which meant either they were new recruits or they represented some other agency.

"Just keep working on it, I'll handle the Men In Black," Nadia assured him, as she walked down to the entrance.

"Where's Director Bauer?" asked a gray-haired man she didn't recognize.

"He's out in the field at the moment. Can I be of assistance? I'm Nadia Santos, Agent in Charge, Mister..." Nadia extended the man her hand, but he made no attempt to shake it.

"Where is Mr. Bauer?" another man in a suit responded.

Nadia decided to give up the pretense of being friendly. "I'd like to see some identification," she told the gray-haired man.

The gray-haired man took out his badge. "I'm District Director Carl Nash," the man told him. "Assistant Director Ritter is with the FBI. We've come to talk with you about a matter of some urgency."

Nadia had never heard of anyone from District named Nash, but the identification seemed legitimate. "Would you mind telling me what this is about?" she asked.

"You've had contact with one of our agents, a Monica Reyes, some time in the last two hours?" Ritter asked.

"How would you know that?" Nadia countered.

"We've been monitoring Agent Reyes for some time," Ritter continued. "We believe she has personal contact with a known terrorist."

"Isn't part of your job to search out and find known terrorists?" Nadia countered. "What exactly is the crime here?"

"This particular terrorist was responsible for the attack on Hoover building in D.C., and is wanted on suspicion for the murder of Senator Richard Matheson."

With a sinking feeling, Nadia realized that the cover story was being arranged She decided to try and buy time. "It was my understanding that Senator Matheson died of a heart attack," she began.

"Preliminary toxicology results suggest otherwise, " Ritter told her. "And I'd stop trying to be cute, Agent Santos, you know damn well we're talking about Fox Mulder."

"According to his rap sheet, Fox Mulder used to be part of your neck of the woods, _Mister _Ritter," Nadia was getting equally stern. "So I fail to see how any of this is our mistake."

"You picked up Agent Reyes from our New York office less than ninety minutes ago," Nash told her. "Why would you step in what is strictly a Bureau matter?"

"Who gave you this information?" Nadia countered.

Nash chose not to answer this question. "The Bureau wants all agents with connections to Mr. Mulder in our custody rather than the agency's," he said

""Well, there's a slight problem, then," Nadia replied "because we have her and we're going to keep her."

"I wouldn't take this lightly, Agent Santos," Ritter had let even the pretense of politeness leave his voice.

"I assure you I'm not," Nadia countered. "Frankly, I'm more than a little surprised you're allowing this to happen, Mr. Nash. After all, the bombing of a federal building _is _an act of terrorism, something this unit is just as qualified to investigate as the Bureau is."

"The decision's been made," Nash's teeth were clenched now. "People above your pay grade have spoken."

"Is that so?" Nadia asked rhetorically. "Well, I was planning to talk with someone higher in the chain of command about the attack just before you and your merry band showed up. I think you'd be more than interested in his opinion."

She walked over to the nearest phone. "Edgar, connect me with Mike Novick, would you?"

**12****:23:02/12:23:03/12:23:04**

In addition to the main terminal that made up Dulles, there were also several landing strips that the government had privately leased. Vaughn's position gave him access, and the government hadn't been able to react to Syd's latest actions to hold up a flight..

Mulder had told Jack and Sydney that he would relay a shortened version of what the hell was going on, but only when Scully was on the plane with him. "It's a really hard to believe the story," he told them, "and I think it would make sense to only tell it once.

Jack and Agent Doggett had been headed out to the East River, but had already run into roadblocks locating the woman Mulder had mentioned.

"There's no record of a Marita Covarrubias working at the U.N." Jack told them. "The secretary-general's office was rather firm on that point."

"Of course, _they're _going to tell you that," Mulder said. "But believe me, she's there hidden within the labyrinth of bureaucracy."

"Really?" By now Jack had gotten access to some of the transcripts of Mulder's files. "Have you even talked with her since your trial?"

"Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?" Mulder countered.

"I'll try it another way" Vaughn countered. "If this conspiracy is as deep and insidious as you say it is, why would she still be alive, much less working at her old position? "

"Because Covarrubias had a greater use for the conspiracy than just leading me down blind alleys," Mulder told her.

"She was the third of your informants," Vaughn pointed out. "Granted, I've only glanced at your file, but didn't they kill the other two? I mean, they do seem to be taking out contracts on people who helped you."

Mulder had gone silent. "How could I have been such a fool?" he said finally. "Of course they're going to kill her. Today. Get all their ducks in a row, and than kill them all."

Jack asked wasn't entirely sure how he'd made this leap, but couldn't argue with the logic behind it. "How do we find her?"

"I don't know, like you said, I haven't..." Mulder went quiet again. "She had an address in New York. It has to be somewhere in the file!"

"Any references?" Jack began to scroll down the index.

"Autumn of 1996, she helped me track down a diplomatic package crucial to the conspiracy," Mulder said. "We used the New York office to find her!"

Even as Jack was amazed by the man's memory, he found what Mulder was talking about. "Got it. 758 East 65th Street. But it's been more than twelve years; she could have changed addresses a dozen times since then!"

"Maybe, but she won't have gone that far."

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"One of the major sublets of the conspiracy had a branch office in New York," Mulder told them. "Don't bother looking in the files; I never knew where it was, and the branch of the conspiracy that used it the most was wiped out in February of '99. But someone had to stay behind to make sure that this branch was still functioning, and one of the people who worked there was Covarrubias."

"You're sure of this?" Jack asked.

"How do you think I tracked her down before my trial?"

Jack was pretty sure that Mulder was omitting something, but realized that if they wanted to get to the bottom of this, they needed any support that they could get. "All right, we'll track her down," he told the others over the phone.

Just then, Sydney boarded the plane with Mulder in front of her. "All right, they're here. Wheels up in two minutes," Vaughn put the phone down, and waited for liftoff.

Mulder was looking around with genuine surprise in his face. "Don't tell me you've never been here," Sydney was saying.

"All my years for the bureau, they always had me fly commercial and usually economy," he told her. "I didn't know that I could ever get into the grownup part of the store."

Vaughn ground his teeth. "Well, I'm glad that this particular threat is so amusing."

"All right," Scully said strictly. She leaned back in her seat. "Considering that we're about to tell you a story so incredible you may have us in straitjackets by the time we land, maybe you could level with us, and tell us why you're so invested in finding the people behind this?"

Sydney's eyes narrowed, and her voice grew harsh. "When the bomb went off in the Bureau, one of the directors who died was a very dear friend. And since the odds are very good that he was just acceptable collateral damage by the bastards who are trying to frame you, we're all kind of _pissed off_."

Vaughn nodded, then added, "Don't get us wrong, Mulder. If there is a real conspiracy to hurt Americans, we will stop it. But we're not here to help you find whatever answers you've spent your life searching for. We have a crisis that you and your friends might be able to stop, and we may need to understand what you've been investigating to stop it. Beyond that, we've had our own problems, and we don't want yours."

He trailed off. Mulder and Scully exchanged glances. Scully finally said, "Not quite the government assistance we've been hoping for, but I think it'll do."

"They had me at 'hello'," Mulder said dryly. "How long until we get to New York?'

"Less than half an hour," Vaughn told them.

"In that case, I 'd better talk fast," Mulder said. "Because even the Cliff Notes version of this story could take hours."

Sydney: "Start by telling us what you're doing in D.C. And what you think is on that file we downloaded."

"Well, the devil's in the details, but the short answer: some time today there are going to be a series of attacks that will be the opening salvos in a battle being waged by people within this government." Mulder paused.

"To what end?" Vaughn asked.

"Like I told Agent Bristow, colonization."

"So what you're saying is at the end of the day, aliens are coming?" Vaughn couldn't help but let a bit of disbelief into his voice.

"What I'm saying is, they're only coming back."

**12:34:23/12:34:24/12:34:25/12:34:26**

Nadia hadn't been able to help enjoying watching all those suited individuals deflate the minute that Mike Novick had picked up the phone. There had been a few more minutes of tense conversations between them before Nash finally emerge, his neck glowing a spectacular shade of crimson.

"It would seem that your alliances seem to have carried the day," Nash muttered. "However, you can't expect us to just allow you access to the information that you're going after without going through the correct channels."

"We wouldn't dream of it." Nadia didn't bother to tell them that with Marshall and Edgar on their side, they would be able to get the information out of the Bureau before they knew was missing --- they might have known what happened to Doggett and Reyes, but they clearly had no idea that Marshall had hacked into their files and their security system in the past three hours.

"However," Nash continued. "Mr. Novick agreed and the President did say that it would probably be best if the Bureau had at least one representative while you were working with their agents."

This had been done without Nadia's knowledge , but she decided to allow them one cookie. Agent Reyes, however, who had been quiet up until now started to look agitated.

"Assistant Director will remain on standby as long as you are dealing with Agents Doggett and Reyes," Nash continued. "And of course, if you encounter either Fox Mulder or Dana Scully, you will immediately keep the AD abreast of this."

Nadia, who in all her years of working with her sister and her husband, knew a dozen ways of working without letting the powers that be in on the game, simply nodded. In truth, she just wanted to get the suits out of here so that they could get back to dealing with more important matters.

"I'm glad that this could be resolved in a peaceful manner," she said. She couldn't help but note the glances that Ritter and Nash exchanged.

"Well, we've kept this up long enough," Nash told them, as they turned to leave.

Nadia was now wary. She knew that despite the dressing down they had gotten, the higher-ups in the CTU command wouldn't just leave the field with so little fuss. So very slowly, she walked back to Edgar and whispered to him. Without giving a sign that anything was amiss, he nodded/ and began typing.

"How the hell can you do this?" Reyes looked awfully pissed as she walked to Nadia. "We had an agreement---"

"Agent Reyes," Nadia said in a tone hadn't used with the FBI suits. "You shouldn't be airing our laundry in public. Now, I need to use the restroom, so if you want to yell at me, by all means let's do so in there."

Reyes looked wary, but followed Nadia in. The second she was inside, Nadia went to the sink, and twisted both handles to full, then turned on all the other facuets. "I'll make this quick: I think one of those suits who came in has bugged us."

"What?" Reyes lowered her voice to a whisper. "How can you be so sure??"

"I don't know about your department, but no one in my agency would simply yield even if God almighty gave them instructions. The only reason you lose a fight publicly is so you can win it in secret. This building may be secure, but there are all sorts of ways it can be monitored offsite, which is what I'm willing to bet Nash was doing the second he left."

Reyes considered this. "They knew you were lying about Mulder and Scully." It wasn't a question.

"Considering your former position, I would consider healthy paranoia part of the job."

Reyes half smiled. "Actually, it reminds me of my former colleagues. One of Mulder's favorite sayings was 'No matter how paranoid you are, you're not paranoid enough.' " The smile disappeared. "Did you get a message to Doggett and Agent Bauer?"

"Why do you think they didn't come back here right away?" she put forth. "We're going to have to report in eventually, but I have some leeway with the higher-ups, and today looks like a great day to use it. By the time Division and your friends at the Bureau find out, the President will know what's going on, and he'll be a lot more open minded than some of the people higher up the chain of command."

"What are you going to do when Mulder and Scully get here?"

"Connect with Jack and Agent Doggett, and have them out in the field as much as possible," Nadia replied. "There's still a lot of chaos because of the attack, and the longer we wait before we start bringing people in, the safer we'll all be." She frowned. "One thing that bothers me is, we'll be behind the curve."

Reyes actually smiled a little at this. "I doubt anybody involved with the conspiracy can say what's it all about," she said sardonically. "I hope that he remembers that when he tells your friends."

**12:42:35/12:42:37/12:42:37**

Sydney had heard some pretty unbelievable things from Sloane and Irina while she had been working for and against them, but in comparison to what she was hearing now from the two ex-FBI agents, they could've been reporting from CNN.

"I'm sorry," Vaughn began, "you're telling us not only that extra-terrestrial life is present and on Earth, you're saying that almost every major religious text, along with the mapping of our genetic structures is alien in origin? You expect to just accept that on your word?"

Mulder, who had told most of the tale, just gave a weary sigh. Scully was a little more practical. "I saw the evidence, Agent Vaughn, " she began. "Writing on a ship off the Ivory Coast that definitely did not originate from the planet. Writing of almost every major holy book ever written. Power emanating so clearly from it that mere rubbings of it could cause activity in parts of the brain that were never meant to function in men. People died because of it. Mulder was nearly killed because of it."

Sydney didn't think she'd been caught this flatfooted since the time that the people at Special Projects had shown her a 15th Century drawing indicating that she had been chosen for some great prophecy. But because her life had hung in being able to deal with this, she managed to regain her footing. "Look," she told them. " while this may be the kind of news we should be calling the Discovery Channel about, I don't see how it's relevant to what's going to happen today."

'I'm just trying to tell you that this is a lot deeper than one government conspiracy," Mulder said slowly.

"Not to take anything away from this, but so what?" Sydney said. "You tried to justify your actions at Mount Weather by explaining the truth as you knew it, and all it did was get you a date with a lethal injection. You're never going to convince people that this is a clear and present danger by going back millions of years. Your best chance of getting us, never mind the President, to give you the help you need is to tie into whatever you came to DC to deal with. Give us one solid threat that we can handle, and we'll worry about the rest later."

This speech did nothing to alleviate Mulder's stress; if anything he looked more worn down. "Why not ask me to square the circle while you're at it?" he asked bitterly.

"Start with the obvious," Vaughn asked. "Agent Doggett told us that over the past few months, you've been asking for information for shipping manifests with recent oil deposits. How does this tie in to anything involving aliens?"

"Because oil is how the aliens plan to colonize," Mulder told them. "The black oil's how they spread."

Amazingly, some of this did sound familiar. It had been in the index of the files. "How?" Sydney asked.

"We first encountered in 1996," Mulder seem to speak carefully. "In February of that year, some French divers encountered a sunk vessel that was, according to sources, a UFO. One of them came back dazed but unhurt; the others returned with severe radiation burns. The oil had the effect of being a parasite, and switched bodies several times, until it reached a missile silo in North Dakota, where the government was keeping the original UFO."

"How do you know this happened?"

"One of the hosts was Alex Krycek," Scully told him. "If you've read the files, his name comes up quite a bit, including the next encounter with the oil."

"In late November, we ran into Krycek yet again. He informed us of a diplomatic pouch that contained evidence of the government's conspiracy," Mulder told us. "We thought it was a line of bullshit, especially when all it had was a big black rock. Then I learned where the pouch originated from."

"Where?"

" Tunguska, in Russia." Mulder paused. "Over a hundred years ago, a huge fireball smashed into Earth with he force of two thousand nuclear explosion. No one ever knew what really happened." He paused. "I found out."

The picture was starting to become a little coherent. "You followed the pouch to Tunguska," Sydney said.

"And ended up in a Russian forced labor camp, where I found out up close and personal exactly what they recovered. In fact," he paused. "I was infected with it."

It might have been more of a testament to Mulder's storytelling that it took a moment for this to sink in. "You---were--- what?" Vaughn asked. "Then how is it you're still alive?"

"I was injected with a vaccine that the Russians had been working on for God knows how long," Mulder told them. "My harrowing escape from there and return is worthy of epic poetry, but suffice to say I did make it out. That was the last I saw of the virus until a little less than two years later. Just after the X-Files was shut down, in fact."

He looked at Scully, who took her cue, and said, "You may recall, in July of 1998, the explosion of a federal building in Dallas. Mulder and I were present when the bomb threat was called in, and when the place blew up. Through the efforts of some people who are now dead, we learned, much like the bombing of the Hoover building, it was the cover for a greater conspiracy."

"What kind of conspiracy?"

"The bodies of several young boys infected with this same oil," Mulder said. "By then, we knew enough that the oil was the alien equivalent of a bio-virus, and was actually being manufactured in crop fields all across the world from these same deposits of the oil."

Sydney was beginning to have Rimbaldi flashbacks --- she was drowning in information "Who was manufacturing it?"

"Like we said, we don't know names," Mulder told them. "But it was a conspiracy involving underlings from governments all over the world. The black oil represented the consciousness of the aliens. Once infected, an alien life-form would emerge from a human host in a period of ninety-six hours. Instead of terraforming the planet, they would terraform the people. Ultimate goal--- to make Earth suitable for colonization."

"Mr. Mulder," Vaughn told him with some bafflement, "if this was the ultimate goal of aliens, why would anybody in this planet, never mind in government go along with it?"

"For the most cowardly reason," Mulder replied. "To save themselves."

**12:53:22/12:53:23/12:53:24/12:53:25**

Though Jack hadn't heard the tale Mulder and Scully were spinning, he had gotten an abbreviated version of it from Agent Doggett as they drove towards Covarrubias' apartment.

"You're saying this oil is part of an alien consciousness?" Jack asked.

"I don't know about that part, but it's definitely a big part of the problem," Doggett told him. "Right before they kicked Mulder to the curb, we investigated a rig off the Gulf of Mexico that had supposedly run across a new oil deposit. But I saw the end results, whatever they unearthed made the crew of that rig less than human. If it hadn't been for Mulder's work, a lot more people than those on the tanker would have died."

Jack pulled up to the building. "And that oil is at the center of what's Mulder and Scully have been hiding from?" he asked, amazingly.

"God's honest truth, I'm not sure," Doggett looked at Jack. "Look, Agent Bauer, I saw a lot of things I can't explain while working with Mulder and Scully. I couldn't escape the evidences of my own senses, so I compartmentalized it, and just took it as it was. But even after all that, I'm still not sure if I believe it's all real."

"You testified at Mulder's trial," Jack pointed out.

"About a conspiracy that I was never able to find any evidence about," Doggett told him "I swore under oath I didn't believe in aliens even after I'd seen several with my own eyes. Even now, after all this time, I don't know if what I saw was real."

"Then why help Mulder at all?"

" 'Cause I failed him," Doggett replied simply. "The man he was accused of killing was another buddy from the Marines. A man who couldn't be killed. And Mulder ended up in his bombsight because of it."

Jack knew there was more to the story, but knew it was not the time for more self-flagellation. He got out of the car, locking it behind him. "So you've never seen this woman before?"

Doggett shook his head as he followed Bauer. "Mulder's informant, not mine. And from what little I know about her, she never once did anything for him, even before his trial. I don't know what Skinner was thinking, believing that ice queen would help in Mulder's hour of need."

Jack drew his gun and racked the slide, chambering a round. "In that case, maybe you can do more than whisper questions in my ear."

Doggett looked at Jack stoically. "All we need her for is a _soft_ Q and A," he reminded him.

_"Mulder's_ the one who wants to protect her," Jack reminded him. "I want some goddamn answers, and if she can give them to us, what's wrong with pushing her buttons a little?"

Doggett seemed to be considering this for a moment, when he slowly looked around. "Start walking," he said almost casually.

Jack didn't get it, and then he saw what Doggett had--- a small blue sedan. Because he was trained to notice these things, he recognized it as the vehicle that had initially chased them from Grand Central. He hadn't seen it while they were en route, but now Jack was beginning to wonder if they had ever lost it. "On three," he told Doggett. "One.. two.. "

He and Doggett turned and fired on the two men in suits who had just emerged One of them went down instantly, but the second was clearly wearing some form of Kevlar because it only knocked him back a few feet.

"Fuck!" Doggett shouted, as he fired three shots. He was aiming for the head, but whoever this guy was, he moved like lightning, and was behind the cover of the carby the third shot. "Where's the hell's our backup?"

This was a good question, but Jack didn't think he could answer. Because he was pretty sure that in the space of those few seconds, the man had grown six inches. Plus, he was pretty sure he'd dropped something.

The remaining adversary stood up—he didn't use the car for cover, but actually stood, gun in hand. Doggett fired a four round burst into the man's chest, but it didn't move this time. Jack frowned, closed one eye, and aimed carefully...

For the car's gas tank.

The resulting explosion was spectacular. One gallon of gasoline equaled twenty sticks of TNT. From what happened, Jack could only assume that the tank had been recently filled.

Bauer waited a moment longer, then moved forward, gun still drawn—after having Arvin Sloane literally shrug off bullets to the head, he wasn't taking any chances now that he had been returned into the realm of the science fiction. He circled around the car, and flanked where the shooter had been, only to find that the shooter, the one who had grown half a foot, had disappeared.

Jack frowned, then moved towards the wreckage--- to find no one was there. No body, no ashes, no blood. The only thing that seemed off was the sidewalk, which seemed to have had sections burnt through with some kind of acid He d He was about to bend down to examine it closer, when he heard his name being yelled from across the way.

He ran back to the entrance. Agent Doggett was standing close to. a doorman whose eyes were almost burnt red "What the fuck happened?"

"Not sure, " Doggett said, "but I think we just missed having a close encounter of our own."

**12:59:57/12:59;58/12:59:59/1:00:00**


	6. 1:00 PM TO 2:00 PM

**Chapter 5**

**The Following Takes Place Between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.**

"All right," Sydney told Mulder and Scully. "Let's say that we accept everything you've told us as true--- something, by the way, you haven't completely sold me on. According to the information in your files, the main contingent of this syndicate met a fiery demise at El Rico Air Force Base more than a decade ago. Now, in the last seven years, have come up with any reliable intel on anyone who was also involved --- names, a base of operations?"

"The majority of these people are part of our shadow government, Agent Bristow," Mulder replied. "When I lost my access, it became a hell of a lot harder get any information. Now I've got books full of possible incidents that. may be connected. Other operators who think they know what might go on, but I don't have definitive proof. When I talked to Skinner a few days ago, he hinted that he might have tapped into somethng. I imagine whatever we need to find is on that data file."

"Which, as of right now, we still can't read," Sydney sighed.

Vaughn reentered the seats. "We're about two minutes from touching down." he said. "Which means I now have to tell you of a new set of problems. I talked with Nadia, the FBI has already paid a visit warning us of Doggett and Reyes at risk for knowing 'such a dangerous individual' as the two of you. She held them off, but we're going to have to do some work to avoid them"

"So much for government help," Scully said.

"Not necessarily," Sydney told them. "Vaughn and I have experience running on the fly operation. We can work in context with Jack, we might be able to maneuver without the bureaucracy getting ever knowing, at least until we have some concrete information."

"Do we?" Vaughn asked.

"Has Agent Doggett made contact with Marita Covarrubias yet?" Mulder countered.

Just then, Sydney's phone rang. "Jack?" she replied.

"We've just had another complication," Jack told him.

"Is Covarrubias dead?" Sydney asked automatically.

"Agent Doggett and I haven't gotten past the lobby," Jack admitted. "I'm beginning to think Mulder may be right that some part of the government's involved. I can't figure out how else we've been tailed so effectively."

"How many assassins?"

"One down, one got away. We're still not sure that's all of them." Jack paused. "And Agent Doggett thinks at least one of them wasn't human."

"On what is he basing that?" Sydney asked carefully.

"Put me on speaker." Jack ordered. He was reluctant to put faith to a desperate fugitive, but he wanted answers, whatever the source

"The fact that there's a man in the lobby dead because of some kind of chemical burns that I associate with radiation, but Doggett says is part of what happens when people come into contact with an alien"

Scully, surprisingly, spoke up then. "Agent Bauer, do you see a greenish, slimy substance anywhere near the body?"

"No."

"Did either you or Doggett hit one of the men tailing him?"

"Only after he left the lobby."

"Then, there may be a chance that the doorman's still alive." Scully told him. "While exposure to this substance can be fatal, there is the possibility he's gone into a coma."

"I've been doing this as long you have. You think I can't tell the difference?"

"I couldn't, and I'm a doctor," Scully pressed. "And if this man really encountered, and were exposed either to the virus or whatever runs through these monster's blood, it is possible to fall into a coma. No, we might be able to save---"

At that moment, Doggett reappeared. "Covarrubias is on the fifth floor."

"Fine," Jack returned to the phone "Call 911. Tell them to head to this address. We may have a live one here."

"You sure?"

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "Stay here, wait for the medics, tell him to follow Scully's instructions." He took out his weapon. "I'm going to make sure she's actually here." He picked up the phone. "And I'm going to want some answers when I'm done."

"That's the man who were trusting with our lives?" Scully asked doubtfully.

"We're going to need his help, if we're going to stop... whatever's going to happen." Sydney told him

1:06:23

1:06:24

1:06:25

Vaughn had instructed the pilot to land at a private air field just south of Manhattan. He still wasn't sure he believed Mulder's vision on the enormity of this conspiracy, but in case someone was monitoring the FAA, this would give them a few extra minutes edge, and at this point, he'd take whatever advantage he could get..

"So what's our next step?" Sydney asked, as they deplaned.

She was not encouraged by Mulder's response. "You tell us. Coming here was your idea, remember?"

"The first line of the email said there was going to be an attack her in less than four and a half hours," Vaughn reminded them. "They didn't pick her at random."

"For all we know they did," Mulder told them. "For all we know, Manhattan's just one of many locales they're going to hit today."

"New York is the financial and business center of the country, and right now the President's here," Sydney was getting a little irritated. "You don't think that's enough of a reason for them to strike here?"

"If anything that makes it too big a risk," Mulder countered.. "What happened in Bureau is something that the government might be able cover up with a little judicious editing of the truth. Something of the magnitude of what you're thinking--- that's the kind of thing they'd doing in the endgame, and we're still a few years off from that."

"That's pre-9-11 logic and you know it," Vaughn pointed out. "You said that Matheson wanted to reach you because he thought this so-called shadow government could take a broader reach. This could be another example of that."

Mulder seemed willing to argue the point, but right then Sydney's phone rang. "Marshall, tell me you got something." she said as she answered.

"Well, I do have some good news," Marshall told them. "By using a file that Edgar downloaded me from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I'm making some progress. Problem is, I think we're going to need a translation for the translation."

"What now?" Sydney asked, resignedly.

"They keep saying the release of the product is scheduled for the autumn. The workers will pull the chair out from under them," Marshall told them. "Honestly, it sounds like some of those code phrases the Company sometimes used, only like they appeared in B-movies."

Though Sydney was inclined to agree, she knew this wouldn't help them much. "Is there anything in the file that might be plainer?"

."Well, there is an acronym that keeps coming up, but I haven't been able to match it with anything/"

"What are the letters?"

"SEP."

At that moment, Mulder, who'd been listening with some bemused resignation, spoke up. "Where is SEP coming up?" he demanded "You have any idea of the context."

"Hard to say," Marshall said. "Every time it shows up, it's followed by a string of numbers. I've been trying to figure out what they mean, but they're not translating to any of the usual ciphers."

"They're not that kind of code," Mulder told them. He looked at Scully. "They're from a catalog."

"What the hell does that mean?" Vaughn asked.

"Autumn of 1996, I meet with a man named Jeremiah Smith who had the ability to heal people with the touch of his hand. He also had the ability to shape shift."

"You're telling me he's an alien?"

"A good one this time,"

"Naturally," Sydney told us.

"He worked at the Social Security office in D.C. His main job was to compile data for some part of the conspiracy--- I never found out what. What we did learn was that the data had a computer code basic on amino acid sequences that made up the small pox vaccine."

Sydney put it together. "Smallpox Eradication Program."

Mulder was surprised. "Not bad. Essentially, we are be cataloged, tagged and inventories, and the only people who could be doing at had to have government backing. Are you starting to get the picture, Agent Bristow?

She was. "So you think these numbers are....?"

"Targets In a code you couldn't break no matter how many Marshall there are."

"If that's the case, what are we to do with this information?" Vaughn replied. "How do we figure it out?"

"That's just it. We don't find the targets. We find the men compiling the list." Mulder paused. "Tell your computer ace that I have another name for him to look up."

"Who?"

"Jeremiah Smith." Off Sydney and Vaughn's look of bafflement. "Scully and I learned that there were at least six men with that name--- and face--- working in Social Security offices across the country The part of the conspiracy I investigated may have gone up in flames, but there are going to be guys still out there."

"How do you know?"

Scully, who had been talking to the paramedics on Vaughn's phone until now, spoke up. "Because I saw him still doing whatever he calls his work when Mulder was missing. Other people depend on him." Now she turned grim. "And anyway, the son of a bitch owes us big time."

1:14:48/1:14:49/1:14:50

* * *

Considering all the energy that had committed to finding it, Covarrubias' apartment was something of an anticlimax. The door was locked, which Jack considered a positive rather than a negative--- it meant that no hired killers had managed to penetrate it. But when no one responded to his knocks, he began to wonder fi there efforts to get here had been for naught.

Using his lockpick, he jimmied the door open in under a minute. Once there, he removed his weapon, and began to search the place. It then occurred to him that he didn't know what he was looking _for _either. So he decided to break radio silence and contact CTU. Carefully

Nadia answered on the first ring. "Yes?"

"How private is this conversation?"

"This is one of the clean phones Marshall gave us before our old office broke up." Nadia replied. "Tell me you found something."

"Before we even got in the building, we ran into two hitmen." Jack held off mentioning that he wasn't convinced of the living one's humanity. "One's dead; the other's gone."

"Doesn't that prove we're on the right track?"

"It proves that we never lost our original tail," Jack pointed out. "'Cause I'm standing in Marita Covarrubias' apartment, and there's no sign of her anywhere."

"I don't think that proves anything."

By now, Jack could tell that the apartment was empty. Furthermore, he hadn't been able to find any pictures or ID to prove that Covarrubias had even lived there. "We sure this is her only known address?" he asked.

"According to every database we've checked."

"Really?" Jack asked as he did a quick walk through her closet. "We sure that maybe her name just was on the title deed? Hell, if she really is a diplomat, there's no guarantee that she's even still in the country."

"Jack, this isn't all in our heads," Nadia pointed out. "Didn't you find anything of value on the shooter that you killed?"'

"No wallet; no ID, not even a cell phone." he replied. " God knows how he figured out where to be. I'm running the fingerprints we got through the database, but I'm not sure what good knowing who one of the killers was does it right now, at least when it comes back."

"Jack, you know as well as I do that there are no coincidences in our jobs. There must be something in this woman's apartment of value---"

Jack suddenly went still. "I'll call you right back," he said before turning off his phone. He'd heard something that he shouldn't have been able to in an empty apartment. He pulled his Sig Sauer, slowly turned the corner... to see John Doggett standing there in a similar pose.

'"Paramedics made it," he said quietly. "Hard to tell, but they think that the doorman's going to live."

"I wish I could take comfort in that," Jack said as he holstered his weapon. "Because right now, I don't see anything to prove that we haven't been led on a wild goose chase."

Doggett didn't answer; he just continued to search the apartment. "Mulder wouldn't lead us here unless he thought that there was something that could help us," he argued.

"Well, you're the X-Files agent here," Jack countered.. "You see anything that bears him out?"

Doggett was quiet. Then he reentered the closet, and picked up something that had been near the wall. It was a small grey cylinder. "This does."

"Really? Mulder said. "What is that?"

In answer, Doggett pressed a button on the underside. With a small hiss, a stiletto-like blade emerged. "If I remember what Scully told me, they use this to kill aliens," he said quiet. "And I doubt that she got this from a box of Crackerjack."

"If that's the case, where'd she go?"

In answer, Doggett reentered the closet, and stamped on the floor.. This time, Jack heard an echo from a place that was supposed to occupy only one level. "I don't think she ever left."

Jack removed a shelf, and fired a bullet into the wall above. "I'm going to count to five," Jack said in a loud voice. "You don't open up by then; next one goes in the floor."

Doggett raised his hand. "My guess is the people who _are _trying to kill her would use taht approach., he whispered. "Miss Covarrubias, my name is John Doggett," he said in a somewhat louder voice. "I'm a friend of Fox Mulder, even though we haven't met. I realize that you're probably trying to stay safe. Problem is, a couple of people already have visited, and it's only because of our intervention that they're not talking with you right now. They're probably more on the way, and they're not going to be set back by a hole in the floor. Your best chance at staying alive is coming with me and Agent Bauer, and let us protect you. And I think you know that, too."

There was another pause. Jack was about to fire another shot, when there was a click, and the floor folded inward.. Out came a dirty woman in her mid-forties, once attractive, now pale and looking past her better days.

"More flies with honey, Agent Bauer," Doggett said as he pulled her out.

1:22:27

1:22:28

1:22:29

"Okay, took a bit of doing to find the man we're looking for," Marshall told them "Lot more people with this name then you'd think."

"You have no idea," Scully murmured to herself.

"Twenty-three Jeremiah Smiths in the State of New York," he continued. "And oddly enough, eight of them worked at Social Security offices throughout the state. Not sure exactly which one you're looking for."

Mulder hesitated. "Which office is the closest one to JFK?" he asked instead.

If Marshall was nonplussed by these contradictory instructions, he gave no sign of it. It was one of his great strengths.. "Um, closest office to you is West 49th Street .You're fifteen minutes away."

"Thank you, Marshall. "Mulder hung up and gave the phone back to Sydney. "Where's our transportation?"

"Vaughn's getting it now," Sydney told us. "Now would you my explaining to me why it doesn't matter which office we search to find this particular man."

"You strike make me as an intelligent woman. I'm sure that you've guessed by now.," Mulder countered.

"Pretend I'm an idiot."

"What Mulder is saying is that these men are genetic copies," Scully told her. "I'm still not sure whether they are aliens or some kind of hybrid, but each one of them has the same kind of the knowledge that all the others have.. Shouldn't be scientifically possible, but it is."

Considering all the stories she'd heard in the last hour, Sydney was a little amazed that her head hadn't exploded.. "Cloning is part of the conspiracy, too," she said calmly.

"Has been for decades," Mulder told her. "I was taken on a long trip to Canada with this man. He showed me a lot of evidence about this conspiracy before he was killed."

"By who? Another alien?" Sydney was only half facetious.

"Yeah, actually," Mulder replied. "Quite possibly it's the same one that tried to pay a visit to Marita Covarrubias a few minutes ago. Which actually brings up a valid point. Scully, is my bag here?"

Considering that they'd been on the run for more than seven years, Mulder and Scully had surprisingly little luggage with them--- just two suitcases and a cloth medicine bag. They claimed that the rest was in Canada, and scattered at hiding places throughout the west.

Mulder opened the suitcase, and removed not the one gun he seemed to be carrying, but the same kind of device Doggett had found in her apartment.

"What does that do?" Sydney asked.

"Pierces the back of the neck," Mulder replied. "Only way to kill them. And it has to be exact. You miss, all you do is piss them off. Learned that the hard way, too."

"How do you know you've hit the target?"

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Mulder spoke as if he knew that it probably would.

Vaughn had just driven up in a black Mercedes. "Nadia came through for us," he said. "We're loaded for bear."

Sydney looked at Vaughn before she pushed Mulder and Scully into the back seat. "All right, punch the 49th Street SS Office into the GPS, and let's get this done."

"You're just going to take our word for it," Scully seemed a little baffled by this.

"We want some goddamn answers, and all the ones you give us just seem to lead to more questions," Vaughn replied. "We'll let this lunacy play out a little longer. But somebody better start giving us evidence or we're just going to take you back to headquarters, and do this the hard way."

"_This _is the easy way?' Mulder seemed genuinely incredulous now.

"You're not the only one's who live in interesting times, Mr. Mulder," Sydney answered.

"We're got a long road ahead of us," Mulder countered. "So I think you'd better just call me Mulder. Save us some time"

1:29:44

1:29:45

1:29:46

1:29:47

"I want one thing absolutely clear," Covarrubias said as they got in the car., "you want me to help you, no one higher up the food chain can know that I'm involved."

Jack wasn't sure he followed. "We said we can protect you---"

"You think I'm afraid of prosecution.?" the former informant said. "I've had diplomatic immunity for nearly twenty years, and it didn't stop the people I worked for from injecting me with an alien virus, and then hollowing me out to leave me to die."

"Then why risk your life by helping Mulder in the first place?" Doggett demanded.

Covarrubias barked a humorless laugh. "You really think they didn't know what I was doing? Hell, half the time I was feeding Mulder information straight from the mouth of that chain-smoking bastard."

"So, you're telling me that it's all true?" Jack asked. "The alien virus, the plans for colonization , the whole fucking conspiracy?"

"God, Mulder must have reached a new level of desperation, if he's turning to people like you for help," Covarrubias told him. "Where've you been all this time, Agent Bauer, that your head's so far up your ass?"

Suddenly, Jack had enough of the woman's attitude. "Listen, Marita, I don't know who you work for or who you're double-crossing. Frankly, I don't give a shit. You're the one who was cowering in the darkness a few minutes ago. You agreed to come with us."

"In all my years working between the system, I've learned you can only be as loyal as your options," she replied." And Agent Doggett was pretty accurate as to mine. Now I will help you to an extent --- and I'm warning you now, that won't be much--- but only if you agree to keep my involvement completely off the radar."

"Considering your attitude, why should we follow your instructions?"

Covarrubias paused. "You're a close friend of the President? "Off Doggett's surprise, she added: "I watch Fox News like everyone else. I will help you, but under absolutely no circumstances can anyone in David Palmer's inner circle know about it."

"And why shouldn't I tell him?"

"Because the people behind this will show no hesitation in finishing off what the Drazens started,." For the first time, Jack could hear an accent of fear in this woman's voice.

"You don't want to talk to Division, you don't want me to tell the President," Jack said with mock solemnity. "Is there anyone I can tell that will earn your trust?"

"I think you that there's only one person I'm willing to talk with," she came back. "You know Fox Mulder; I want to hear from him."

"And given what you've just told us, why should he believe anything you say?" Doggett demanded.

"He probably won't," Covarrubias admitted, "but he clearly wanted us to meet for a reason, and I'd like to know from him what it is."

Jack wasn't wild about this, mainly because he still didn't know how trustworthy Mulder's intel would be. But they how had less than four hours before _something _happened, and given the violence of their earlier strike, he had a feeling it would be bloody.

"Agent Doggett, cuff her to the rail," he demanded.

"Why the hell----"

"Because she's said nothing that implies she's worthy of trust.," Jack emphasized as he began to dial.

1:35:26

1:35:27

1:35:28

Sydney was still trying to get a handle on whatever game plan Mulder and Scully were trying to work off when her phone rang.. "Bristow," she said.

"We've got her," Jack cut to the quick.

"The woman from the UN?" Sydney asked. "She tell you anything?"

"She's writing checks that we don't think she can cash," Jack told her. "And she says she'll only talk to Mulder."

"Is that so?"

"Claims that the people behind this are so deeply meshed into the system that immunity does her no good," Jack still sounded like he didn't believe any of this. "And that only someone who's been out of the loop for eight years can save her."

Sydney knew that it was going to be a lot harder to sell Jack the story that the two ex-FBI agents had been spinning. "All right," she said instead. "let's have the meeting of the minds."

"You think this is a good idea?"

"I think we need verification from somebody about some part of whatever madness is going on," she replied. "We may not believe the stories that we're being told, but given that a lot of people have been trying to kill the storytellers, we've got to assume there's some validity to it."

Jack considered this. "Put it on speaker," he finally said.

Sydney did so. "You're on the line with Marita Covarrubias," she told the people in the back seat.

Despite all the effort it had taken to bring about this conversation, it took several seconds for someone to speak. "How do we know it's really you?" Mulder asked.

"The first time we met was at U.N. headquarters in August of 1996," Covarrubias replied, apparently taking Mulder's paranoia as a given. "I gave you a covert files on bee hives in Alberta.," She paused. "I told you that not everything dies."

"Does he?" Mulder countered.

Covarrubias apparently knew what Mulder was talking about.. ""He's long dead, Mulder."

"Given everything that black-lunged bastard put me through; I wouldn't have put it past him to use a clone or two," Mulder replied.

"He has nothing to do with what's happening today. I'm quite sure of that."

"What about the rest of the Syndicate?" Mulder asked. "The ones that didn't go up in flames?"

"Some of them are involved," she admitted. "But if you're asking me to provide you with names and addresses, you know as well as I do that they're not going to be written down anywhere."

"What about where they used to meet?" Mulder asked. "The real estate situation isn't serious enough to make me believe it's now a stack of condos."

Covarrubias had to think before she answered. "They haven't gotten rid of it," she admitted. "They just don't use it that often. Given what happened the last time they came close to success, they feel better safe than immolated."

"What is going to happen today?" Scully, who had been quiet until now, interrupted. "Do you know what else is on the docket?"

"I haven't been that close to the inner circle for seven years, and you damn well know why," Covarrubias snapped.

"You didn't answer her question," Mulder pointed out.

Another hesitation. "All I know for sure is that it's bigger than anything they've tried before," she told them. "They're not doing trial runs any in playgrounds any more."

"I thought the date was still three years away," Mulder asked.

"That doesn't mean there won't be steps to make it easier," Covarrubias countered. "And if this one comes off, dominos will start falling."

"Where at 5:30 does the event take place?" Scully demanded. "

"I don't know." Covarrubias must have known they didn't buy this, so she added: "They would keep this information limited to the inner circle. Frankly, I'm amazed you learned that much about it at all."

"Wait a minute," Mulder said. "You didn't send Skinner the data file?"

"What data file?"

"Then why'd they kill all these people at the Hoover building today?" Scully asked.

"Part of the game," they were told. "In order for this to come off, they need as much chaos as possible. Having every agency running around swinging in the wind can only help that, wouldn't you say?"

At this point, Sydney's patience had run out. "Why are you so determined to talk over our heads?" she snapped. "Who are 'they'? What's all this talk about trial runs? What does this have to do with aliens?"

"What makes you so sure you can trust these people, Mulder?" Covarrubias countered.

"As you proved so well the last time we had a real conversation, you can't trust anybody." There was definite acid in Scully's reply. "But these people offer more than dreams and air."

"Yes, they do." Mulder hesitated. "Which is why you're going to help Mr. Bauer and Agent Doggett like you would help me. Better, for that matter," he added. "because when they ask a question you're going to speak in English, and not flit about like always they did."

"And why I'm going to do this?"" Covarrubias asked.

"Simple, Marita; because you owe me," Mulder countered by.. "If Skinner had forced you to say what I knew you knew at my trial, you would've been dead mere hours later. Considering that the price for your freedom was Scully's life and mine, I'd say that's a major debt. And now I am coming to collect."

Jack and Doggett could see that Covarrubias noticeably paled, though they weren't sure what instruction had led to it. "How do I know they won't shoot me once I finish telling them what they need to hear?" she told him

"I don't use those kinds of people," Mulder argued. "That was his method and you know it."

Sydney didn't think it would help that, strictly speaking, Covarrubias had a better grasp of Jack's character than Mulder did.

"Besides," Scully added. "you're safer with them then with us right now."

"And where exactly are you?"

"We'll be meeting up soon enough," Mulder told her. "We're about to see a man at the Social Security office."

If Covarrubias got any paler, she'd disappear. "You're going after---"

"I'm getting answers, one way or the other," Mulder replied. "Which is why the first thing you're going to do is give the address where the Syndicate made its plans. And don't bullshit me; I know it's in Manhattan.".

"What do you think; that these people will just let you walk in the front door?"

"That's not my problem," Mulder replied. " Nice hearing from you, Marita. Next conversation's going to be a lot sooner than you think.""

And with that he terminated the conversation.

Sydney and Vaughn kept their eyes on the road, but from the mirror, both could see the look of shock on Scully's face.

"What makes you think we can trust her any more than before?" she demanded.

"Because, " Mulder spoke with more certainty now "for the first time, she seems to be afraid of what I can do."

1:47:29

1:47:30

1:47:31

1:47:32

Marshall hadn't talked directly to Jack in a couple of hours, which is why he was surprised to receive a private call.

"How long would it take you to hack into New York City property division?" Jack asked him without any warning.

"I worked for you for two years, Jack, you should know that the answer to any question involving hacking is 'not long', Marshall told him. "This too much for your friends in New York?"

"Right now, the FBI and half of Division is listening into whatever phone calls I make to and from CTU," Jack told him bluntly. "They might be able to do it a little faster, but I can't take the chance of someone who might not be trustworthy finding out something important."

"Um, Jack, not to split hairs, but aren't you someone in authority?" Marshall pointed out.. "As I recall, one of the benefits of that is you can do whatever the hell you want, at least that's what Sloane did."

"One of the first things you learn when they put you in charge is that it can impede as much as it can help," Jack told him. "And I'm a maverick, Marshall; not a sociopath."

"What exactly am I looking for?" Marshall asked without commenting.

"I100 East Eisenhower Avenue. It's a Manhattan address."

"I'm starting the search now," Marshall told him. "Would you mind telling me why I'm looking for it? They've got all the alien stuff out in New Mexico and Arizona, so I'm guessing it's not them?"

"According to a reliable source, for the past forty years groups of men have met there to determine our fate in regard to the fate of mankind," Jack sounded like he still wasn't buying into this."

"Whoa, the Consortium," Marshall was stunned. "You just gave me the address to the Consortium? "

"What are you talking about?"

"This, um, publication I used to subscribe to kept publishing articles about this organization that met in New York dealing with our government's involvement in extraterrestrial technology," Marshall sounded like he'd just found evidence of Santa Claus.

"Really?" Mulder told them. "This wouldn't be Weekly World News by any chance?"

"Of course not!" Marshall said indignantly. "This publication was far more reputable!" Now was not the time to tell Jack that the paper had headlines about whether Saddam Hussein had a robot army or that Monica Lewinsky was a mandroid.

Besides, the information had come up, and, for once, Marshall wasn't sure what to make of it. "Well, the address is legitimate, but beyond that I don't have much to give you."

"Meaning?"

"There's no current listed owner anywhere. No receipt on sale of purchase, no company, no names on it. The only company it links ins the Department of Health."

Jack wasn't sure he followed. "Everything leaves a trail of some kind."

"And I imagine I might be able to follow it, but since you've still got me working on decoding that data file, and keeping track of what Sydney and Vaughn are doing. With my home equipment, I can only do four, five things at once, max."

Jack knew that for Marshall this was a big admittance. "Do you have any record of when it was first bought?"

"Hang on," Marshall typed for a few seconds. "Well, there's more here. The building was bought from a company called Roush Biolabs in 1973. Want me to do a background search on it?"

"Not yet. Can you a copy of blueprints for the building?"

"Yeah, but Jack, there is nothing here at all to suggest that anything criminal is going on here," Marshall reminded him. "You go in there, they could just make a phone call, and you'll be up to your ass in bureaucrats. "

"I can handle that," Jack reminded him.

"There could be hundreds of people in that building. How do you expect not to be seen?"

"That's my concern," Jack said with slightly less confidence

1:53:55

1:53:56

1:53:57

Getting to the building had been easy enough.; the problem was setting up what was going to happen. Sydney and Vaughn had both insisted that they get this Jeremiah Smith, despite Mulder's insistence that --- whatever Smith was--- would bolt given the first sign of government agents. Sydney had then pointed out without their presence there was no way either Mulder and Scully could get into the building at all, and that either way, cordoning off the building was impossible without reinforcements.

After a brief debate, they had finally improvised a way to get into the building that worked, with the help of Nadia. Edgar had run up a copy of credentials identifying Mulder as Agent Vaughn. Sydney would go in as herself armed with the same camera she had used a few hours earlier so that she could monitor the room. Once inside, Mulder would have a truncated conversation with Smith, which would be enough to get him outside. Once he convinced him to talk, Mulder thought that Smith would be able to reveal what the hell was going on.

"You could've at least at me carry a gun," Mulder argued as they walked inside. "I' think I've proven by now that I'm trustworthy."

"What you've given it a lot of talk and theory, which proves nothing," Sydney told him. "You get Smith, he backs up your story, I'll see what I can do about getting you and Scully temporary assignment to our unit. Besides, you've got your stiletto. That should be enough."

Mulder remained silent until they had been passed through by the security guard. It was not until he got to the main room that he asked an apparent non sequiteur. "You and Agent Vaughn are married, right?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"You have a child?"

"Isabelle. She's two."

Mulder nodded. "And you still call your husband by his last name?"

"Where are you going with this?" Sydney asked.

"Just good to know I'm not the only one," he said quietly.

Sydney, who had been putting two and two together about he two ex-agents, kept her mouth shut. Instead, she said: "Let's get this done."

The main office was filled with people-- men in suits, mostly. Sydney had gotten a description of the man from the files, but it took Mulder less than half a minute to see what he was looking for. "Third cubicle from the left," he whispered.

Sydney looked up to see an undistinguished gray-haired man in his sixties sitting at his keyboard. At first Smith didn't react, but as Mulder got closer, he perked up and looked ahead. He didn't move though.

"Jeremiah?"

"I know we haven't officially met, but---"

Smith held up a hand. "I know who you are" He paused, then said something that made little sense. "I guess this is a debt coming due."

"It's two, but who's counting? Besides me." There was pain behind Mulder's answer. "There are some people I need you to talk with. After that, we can deal with the other stuff."

"Your sister, Agent Mulder ---"

"I know what happened to my sister." Mulder said resignedly. "Besides, she's the past. We need to concentrate on the right now."

Smith slowly got to his feet, looking more a tired old bureaucrat than some mystical savior. "I told you this would be painless," Mulder said as he and Smith walked up to her.

"You're the Jeremiah Smith Mulder was talking about?"

"It's simpler to say that I am." Smith replied. "You're willing to listen now?"

"If you'll provide us with answers."

Smith nodded, and they headed toward the exit. They had not gone ten feet before Smith went still. "Mr. Smith?" she asked.

Mulder seemed to know better. "Is one of them here?" he asked.

"The way you came in," Smith said calmly. "He's using another face, but once he reaches us, he will kill me, and anyone who gets in his way."

1:59:57

1:59:58

1:59:59

2:00:00


	7. 2:00 PM TO 3:00 PM

Chapter 6

The Following Takes Place Between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.

Despite the fact that they had been talking about aliens for the last three hours, Sydney still wasn't sure what to look for, or how Smith had known. "What does he look like?" she asked casually.

"Doesn't matter," Smith replied. "He's like me—he can shift his form so he looks completely ordinary. You wouldn't know him until he was standing over you."

"That's going to be to be a big help finding him on the security tape," Sydney muttered. She turned to Mulder. "You got a plan?"

"Only option we have," Mulder told her as he began to back up. "Find another way out of here. Fast."

Very slowly, the three of them walked inside and closed the door. She got on her radio as she did. "Vaughn, pick up."

"You find Smith?" Vaughn asked

"We did," she told him. "But now it seems that whoever's been stalking Mulder has found us. We need another way out."

As always, Vaughn didn't ask questions. "All right, I'm getting a look at the blueprints. Can you and Mulder find a place to hide?"

"That's not a problem, but if we buy what Mulder's been telling us, that may only give us seconds," Sydney pointed out as Mulder and Smith ducked into a closet.

"We sure he's legitimate?"

And at that moment the door opened, and a man in a gray suit with brown hair who looked vaguely familiar came up to the woman.

"Excuse me, I'm Agent Doggett with the FBI," he told her. "I'm looking for a Jeremiah Smith."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Smith has been called away," one of the women who had talked to them earlier said. "Look, what is this about exactly?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that," Doggett said.

"Okay," Vaughn told her. "There's a fire escape leading to the back exit three doors over."

Unfortunately, 'Agent Doggett' was now standing in front of the entrance. The only way to get out would pass through his line of sight.

Sydney came to an abrupt decision.. "Mulder, how good are you at staying low and being quiet?"

"Agent Bristow, whatever you're thinking, don't do it," Mulder said without hesitation. "Trust me, you're not ready to face this."

"He's looking for you, and Smith," Sydney said with a bravado she wasn't completely sure that she felt. "He doesn't know me, and I'm better equipped to deal with him then you are. Now give me ten seconds after I approach him, and then get to the back exit ASAP."

Mulder clearly still wanted to debate this, but Smith tapped on his shoulder. "If we don't do this soon, we won't be able to do this at all," he argued.. "We need to get out of here."

Sydney walked up to the entrance. "Agent Doggett, right?" she said openly.

"That's correct," the man impersonating Doggett said. "Do you have Mr. Smith in custody?"

"We just got here; we're still searching the building for him," she told whoever this was. "We've got the building locked down, but he seems to have slipped out before we got here."

The man who claim to be Agent Doggett looked at her. "Why do you lie to me?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're—"

She sensed the move he was about to make and tried to outmaneuver him. She delivered a kick to his genital region hard enough to cripple a man twice his size.

His knees buckled. Briefly.

"I don't want to kill you," he said in a voice that didn't match the one he'd used a minute ago, "but if you hinder me in my efforts, I will kill you."

With that he casually backhanded her. It didn't seem like a hard slap, but it was enough to dent the plaster and knock Syd silly.

**2:05:11**

**2:05:12**

**2:05:13**

Mulder and Smith ran all the way to the exit. Mulder didn't want to leave Sydney behind, but realized he was now the only one who could find Vaughn and Scully

They managed to make it back to the car. Vaughn had been sitting on the trunk of the car, having already slid his "universal parking permit" on the dashboard, in case a cop wanted to go after him for parking at a fire hydrant—having your car towed away in the middle of an operation was embarrassing. Vaughn saw them run out, slid off the trunk and grabbed Mulder by his lapels. "Where the hell is Sydney?" Vaughn demanded.

"She's still in there, trying to hold off an alien."

"Well," Vaughn said a little nervously. "Then I guess we have nothing to worry about."

"I'm glad you have such confidence in your wife's fighting abilities," Mulder told him. "But I've seen these things get hit by a car and walk it off."

Vaughn released Mulder and began to run into the building, but before he could get there, he saw something in the entryway—a balrog of a man with a face that looked like it had been carved in stone.

"Oh, shit." Scully muttered.

"Split up, Now," Mulder ordered. Smith had been getting in the car. Unfortunately, Vaughn still had the keys, which meant they had to run. Scully ran with Mulder and Smith.

"Scully, get out of here," Mulder said.

"I've been chasing you for sixteen years," Scully said, "you really think that I'm going to leave you now?"

Even as they joked, Mulder knew from past experience that they wouldn't be able to outrun this creature for long.

Vaughn knew that he should really be protecting the man that Sydney had risked her life to get out, but could no more help it than Scully could have left Mulder's side. Fortunately, by now Sydney was wobbling out towards Vaughn.

"Syd? You okay?" Vaughn yelled.

"Gonna have a hell of a headache for awhile, but I'll be all right," Sydney looked at Vaughn ."Please tell me that Smith is safe."

"It's okay," Vaughn told them. "I placed the tracker on Mulder while he was getting out of the car."

"Then lets hope that he still has it on," Sydney told him.

"Got any ideas on how to kill that thing?"

"Just one," Sydney said.

It was the worst kind of deja vu; Mulder was running to protect one alien from another, but this time he didn't harbor any hope that he could lose it.

Normally, one would think three people running through Central Park being chased by a cement mixer on legs would attract attention. But in a city where movies were filmed every few blocks, sometimes all at once, it was hard to notice....and Mulder quickly caught a passerby saying "Did they move ComicCon from the Javits center this year?" as he ran past.

They'd ran nearly three square blocks through trees, around bridges, through a lake, but they could still hear the alien bounty hunter behind them, not even sounding like it was out of breath yet.

"Take Smith with you, and run to the left," Mulder said. "I've got an idea."

Thankfully Scully listened to him, and headed with Smith in tow.

They had followed the tracker, but now Marshall was telling them that Mulder wasn't moving. _Don't tell me you've gotten cagey, _Sydney thought

Then suddenly Vaughn saw that mountain of a creature. Sydney took out her .44 Magnum, and fired two shots into the back of the creature's neck. Only the first shot hit, but that was because the creature was falling to the ground, a green substance oozing out of a hole in its neck The second shot caught the creature in the back, and more green oozed out.

Sydney just stared at this for a moment, still not quite believing what she saw.

"I think we should leave now," She looked up to see Mulder. "I've seen what happens to people who stand too close to them. It's not pretty."

"It's all real," Sydney was relieved to find that whatever the monster had done to her throat was painful, it wasn't permanent. The damage on her neck might leave scars, but she'd had worse fighting with Anna Espinoza.

By now Scully had seen what had happened and had made it back to the car standing guard over Jeremiah Smith. "I think we need to get out of here before someone decides to call the authorities," Scully told him.

"We _are_ the authorities, but I see your point," Vaughn reminded him. "This is not what Jack meant by keeping things under the radar."

"So what's our next step?" Mulder asked.

"Get Jack on the phone," Sydney said.

**2:12:31**

**2:12:32**

**2:12:33**

**2:12:34**

The building that Marita had led them to was remarkable only for its ordinariness. Then again, Jack knew from personal experience that few things are what they appear to be.

"As far as I can tell, there isn't any excessive security," Jack told them as he finished his circle of the address "Closed circuit cameras, but that's about it."

"You were expecting, what?" Covarrubias asked. "Marching guards with attack dogs? The whole point about this is that it's supposed to be inconspicuous."

'"If this building is everything that you've been telling Mulder about, you'd think they would at least pretend that there is something of value in it," Jack argued. "This looks like a brownstone on the Upper East Side."

"Nevertheless, this where they've been holding court since 1973," Covarrubias told him. "You don't believe me, see what happens when you try to get in."

"That's where you're wrong. I'm not going in there," Jack told her as he pulled the car to a stop three full blocks away from the building. "You are."

The confidence that had been slowly returning to the diplomat's face completely vanished. "What?" she demanded.

"You're right, there's no way I can get investigate without incurring suspicion by the wrong people," Jack countered, as he got a kit out of the glove compartment. "So you are going to have a conversation with somebody in that building on tape about the bombing, of Senator Matheson's murder, and get me probable cause to search the fucking place."

"Um, not that I have a problem with this woman risking her life," Doggett said warily, "but if these people really are tapped into the government, they'll learn about the warrant minutes after you get it."

"I know that, so you're going to convince them to mention a name," Jack told them. "And I don't give a shit where in this hierarchy he ranks, as long as he's in the building, and we can hold him in custody"

"These people have been ordered to keep secrets by men with far greater power or influence than you'll ever have, Agent Bauer," Covarrubias told him. "They won't break under pressure."

"Really? 'Cause you're one of those people, and you seem pretty damn nervous."

"Because of what _they _can do to me, not you."

Jack glared. "Lady, you don't have the first idea of what I can do to you." He looked to Doggett. "Get her out of the car."

Wearily, the FBI agent did so. Jack followed carrying a small device. "This is a tracker with radioactive dye," he told her. "You try to run, we'll be able to pick you up wherever you go."

He injected her below the nape of the neck, then handed Doggett a Palm Pilot. "Just keep your eye on the flashing dot."

Next, Jack took the device he'd been fiddling with for longer. "Unbutton your blouse," he ordered.

By now, the blonde knew better than to argue.

He held up a small transmitter. "One of my techs made this," he told Doggett, as he attached it under the strap of the bra. "Unique polymer, won't be picked up by any metal detector or electronic system."

"You sure you're one of the good guys?" Doggett told him in jest. "You've got better tech any Bond villain I've ever seen."

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be working so hard to make sure she doesn't get killed," Jack answered. "Give me a sound check."

"This will never work," Covarrubias replied.

"Not to agree with the woman we're marching into the valley of the shadow," Doggett told him, "but what kind of backup are we going to have to make sure that this comes off? 'Cause I'm pretty sure the two of us can't defend ourselves based on whatever army they might have inside."

Just then, Jack's phone rang. "Bauer," he answered..

"It's me," Nadia said. "Marshall told me about what you're planning Were you planning on juggling nitroglycerin to make the day complete?"

"I know. I'm starting to think we've reached the point where I can't do this alone," Jack told her.

Nadia considered this. "Maybe there's another way," she told him. "Besides, I think it's time you heard this for yourself."

There was a pause. "Jack, it's Vaughn. I know this goes against the grain of almost everything we've done, but we've got to get some kind of clearance for Mulder and Scully."

"You're telling me—"

"We've just reentered the Twilight Zone," Vaughn said grimly. "We just got out of the office with an alien whose job it is to catalog everybody in America."

"You're sure about this?"

"While I was picking him up, another alien came and tried to kill me," Sydney added, trying to sound like this happened everyday.

Jack didn't know why he was having a hard time accepting this, so he asked one last question. "How did you know he was an alien?"

"Because he bled green when I shot him," Sydney replied. "I can't begin to get my head around it, but if this part of it's true, there's a good chance that all of it's true."

"Where have you people been all my life?" Mulder asked.

"Mulder!" Scully shouted in exasperation. Jack had to pull the phone away from his ear at the noise.

"I'm sorry, it's just I spend my entire career at the Bureau, working my ass off on this conspiracy. I convinced exactly three other agents, and one AD over the course of _years_. I've known you for little more than three hours, and you're willing to give me carte blanche with the same government who wants me dead," Mulder shook his head. "And this was before I gave you any proof. Forgive me, but what the fuck do you people know that I don't?"

"It's a long story. One which you'd probably get a lot of vicarious thrills hearing about," Sydney told him. "Short version: if we haven't dealt with weirder, we've come close."

"In any case, I think we've played this as long as we can on our own," Vaughn told us. "We've barely got three hours before whatever happens goes off. I think we need to start making phone calls."

"FBI's already set up shop here," Nadia told Jack. "We need to get them off our ass. Problem is, we still don't have any evidence that clears Mulder of the attacks in D.C."

Jack thought for a moment, before he carefully said, "This alien that's in the car..."

"My name is Jeremiah Smith," he told him. "And I can vouch for most of what you've discussed. Unfortunately, I can only show you pieces of the whole, not the master plan."

"So you don't know where in New York that this supposed attack will take place," Sydney posited.

"Only that it will be somewhere very public where the possibility for mass casualties is at it's highest."

"Which sounds like the entire city," Vaughn reasoned.

"We have no choice, Jack," Nadia said. "We've got to go to someone above our pay grade."

Jack thought about this. If this was all true, could Covarrubias' belief that they would go after the President also be accurate? On the other hand, there was no way that less than a dozen people could help stop this kind of mass attack.

"Nadia," he decided. "I want you to contact Karen Hayes at Homeland Security. Explain the situation to her, and tell her to inform the President of a Level three threat"

"You sure that's a good idea, Jack?" Vaughn asked.

"We've worked with her before," Nadia told them. "If we phrase it the right way, she won't ask questions."

"I'm going to get Mulder and Scully into CTU until the crisis has passed," Jack paused. "If someone raises a red flag, tell them to argue it over with Homeland. Let them spend the next couple of hours in a pissing contest they can't win. It'll buy us time."

Mulder smiled. "You want to use the bereaucracy to fight itself. I like that. What do you want us to do?"

Jack went back to the car, and texted them his location. "How far are you from this building?"

There was a hesitation. "According to our GPS, less than ten minutes." Vaughn replied.

"Good. Get over here." Jack gave a smile. "Mulder, I believe you expressed an interest in a certain location."

"It's real."

"Oh, yes." Jack told him. "And if you get here fast enough, you'll be able to help get some of those answers you've been searching for."

**2:28:06**

**2:28:07**

**2:28:08**

**2:28:09**

"I can't just tell the President to put the city on high alert on a whim," Karen Hayes was telling Nadia.. "We need details along with some kind of verification."

A couple of hours ago, Nadia still would have been uncertain on how to handle this, but the discussion with Agent Reyes and a look at the datafile had given her a couple of ideas. "The threat involves a biological agent that, when released, infects the host and kills in less than seventy two hours," she told her. "It is similar to smallpox in initial appearance."

"How is it being transported?"

"We're not completely sure of that," Nadia admitted, "but it's pretty small in delivery. Couple of vials of it get released in a high population area, the casualties could be in the tens of thousands, maybe even higher."

"What's your main source?"

"FBI. Two agents from the bioterrorism unit confirmed it could be out there." A judicious retelling of the truth. "We had an independent source verify it a few minutes ago."

"And the timetable?"

"Less than three hours."

Hayes considered this. "If I call Agent Bauer, will he be able to confirm this?" she finally asked.

"He's currently in the field with one of the FBI agents who gave us the intel," Nadia told her. "The other agent is here at CTU. She can confirm most of it." She held her breath.

"You're sure it's in three hours?"

"And counting, Karen."

After a few seconds, Hayes came back on the line. "All right. I'll notify the President. But Nadia, you and your husband both have a history of screwing with protocol. You had damn well better be sure of your intel."

"I can pin it down, but you'd have to do be another favor."

"What, my first born?" Karen asked.

"I've got the FBI on my ass about these same agents. Now these people can verify everything you need to know, but we need you to get them surgically removed."

"I think you better quit fucking around, and tell me who these people are."

"Agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes. Reyes is in my office right now."

There was a pause. "I've heard these names before, and not in the most flattering terms," Hayes responded.

"Come on, I have the file in front of me, and you know as well as I do that they are being needlessly blackballed," Nadia pointed out. "All they did was help a friend, and their careers have been trashed because of it."

"This is an FBI thing, Agent Santos," Hayes reminded her. "I can not tell you how much I loathe getting involved in interagency squabbles."

"I'm not asking you to wipe their slates clean, Karen, just give them clearance to work her until we've stopped this threat," Nadia pleaded.

"From what I understand, your sister and brother-in-law are already involved in this," Hayes pointed out. "In fact, they've already jumped their jurisdiction."

"They got involved as soon as they heard what happen at the Bureau," Nadia pointed out. "Besides, you know their reputation. Once they heard what was going in, it would have been impossible to keep them out, and frankly, I wouldn't have tried."

"CTU's jurisdictions are your headaches, not mine.," Hayes argued. "What bothers me is who they've gotten involved with to gain their intel."

Even though, she'd known that this was coming, it still caused her to wince. "Karen, before today did you know who Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were?" Nadia asked.

"They were something of a bad joke in the FBI's record."

"From what you know of their reputations, you really believe they're terrorists?"

Nadia had been blunt; Hayes was equally so. "They did a lot of unsavory things while they were at the bureau, Mulder in particular made frequent anti-government talk--- once at a Senate subcommittee. They were loud, but they never struck me as particularly villainous."

"Maybe that explains why the manhunt for them went stagnant," Nadia argued.

"Are Mulder and Scully involved in this? And don't say I'm being irrelevant; I know where Doggett and Reyes worked before they got sent to bioterrorism."

"Karen, if you give me and Agent Bauer the latitude we need," Nadia told her "not only will we be able to vindicate Mulder and Scully-- which means nothing--- but we'll be able to stop this threat-- which will piss the FBI off even more."

**2:34:55**

**2:34:56**

**2:34:57**

Sydney hadn't seen anything remarkable about the neighborhood they were in, nor any reason for them to circumnavigate it as if it were loaded with explosives. Mulder, on the other hand, regarded it as though it were a holy shrine that he had never expected to see in his lifetime.

As they parked the car less than a block from where Jack was supposedly set up, Mulder continued to keep his eyes fixed on it, as if he feared that it was a mirage that would vaporize upon his blinking. Therefore, he didn't notice either Agent Doggett or Marita Covarrubias.

Scully did, however, and the first thing that she did was walk rapidly over to her, and slap her in the face hard enough to knock her back. Jack and Agent Doggett made no effort to stop her.

"I'm already doing what you told me to!" Marita insisted.

"That had nothing to do with that travesty of a trial," Scully said grimly. "and everything to do with the fact that the last time I saw you, you sent Mulder into what you knew would be his death! I've been waiting nearly nine years to do that, and you know what? We're nowhere _near_ having that debt settled."

Jack smiled, and noted this for the next time Covarrubias became testy—he could always threaten to hand her over to Scully.

Of the group that was now assembled, Doggett was the only one who seemed to understand what had been behind the slap. Frankly, he was amazed Scully hadn't started beating her to a pulp. "It's nice to know that you and Mulder are still alive," he said with a grim humor of his own.

By now, the rest of the group had assembled in the alley where Jack had pulled his vehicle up. Mulder spoke first. "You bare the look, Agent Doggett, of someone who has pissed off the higher-ups in the bureau, " Mulder said with a note of approval in his voice. "Works for you."

"Yeah, well, it's not as much fun as it looks," Doggett replied. "Don't know how you and Scully could stand it."

"We didn't do it of our own volition, John," Scully reminded him. "And being on the run ain't no crystal stair."

Sydney looked at Jack. "We've got to stop meeting like this," she said simply.

"I know," Jack told them. "Would be nice if every time we worked together, the world wasn't about to end."

Mulder blinked. He wasn't sure he heard right. "Excuse me?"

"Like we said, you're not the only one whose got stories to tell," Vaughn told him.

"I hate to interrupt this touching reunion," Marita told them all with disdain, "but whether you believe me or not, those people do monitor what happens within this area. If you don't start doing this soon, we'll all be in the scaffold.

"So what did you have us drive down here to do?" Sydney asked Jack.

"It's your basic wet insert operation," Jack told them. "I am told that the people in this building have information about today's threat."

"Not to be a thorn in the side," Doggett remarked, pointing to Jeremiah Smith, "but what about him? Surely, he knows more of the secrets of this conspiracy and would be willing to tell them with a lot less difficulty than anyone we got out of there."

Jack looked at Smith. "Anything to add?"

Sydney interjected, "We did some Q and A in the car," Sydney said. "He says that what he is involved in is part of a larger plan involving colonization." She held up a hand. "However, he tells me that only part of the plan is known to him and his people, have been kept in the dark ever since El Rico, where most of the conspiracy---"

"--burned up, yes, I've heard." Jack looked at Smith. "Well?"

"Those who would colonize have never halted the process," Smith told the group. "They have merely made alterations in it. Unfortunately, those who they trust have reduced in number. I know there is going to be an attack today, but apart from that it's going to be very visible, I don't know the details."

"What about the datafile?" Jack asked. "Can you interpret that?"

"I believe I can," Smith told him. "Mulder told me that there were some numbers in it that connected with the work I was doing. Given some time I should be able to make some connections."

"So we're left with the people in this building," Sydney told them. "Who exactly were you going to put in?"

"I'm guessing her." Everyone looked at Mulder. "She's the only person here with a direct link to the conspiracy. What I don't get is what your planning."

"She's been tracked and wired up," Jack told them. "We send her in. She helps lead us to someone in the building who can give us some real answer."

"And you sent us here to back you up," Vaughn reasoned.

"It's six people. That's more than Sydney and I had for a lot of these missions."

"Yeah, but what exactly would we do for weapons and ammo..." Mulder trailed off as Jack unlocked the trunk of the car to reveal the usual CTU arsenal for a vehicle.

"Pretty sure the other cars loaded as well," Jack pointed out.

Mulder arched a brow. "Did you watch a lot of _Beverly Hills Cop II_?" He looked at Scully, who exchanged looks with Doggett. "Where do we suit up?" he finally asked.

**2:43:48**

**2:43:49**

**2:43:50**

**2:43:51**

For people who had been out of the enforcement business as long as Mulder and Scully had been (and who had avoided those kind of jobs for most of their careers), they managed to assume the roles easily enough Mulder had only joked that these communicators would be practically invisible by the time the aliens finally took over.. Then, he and Scully had headed off to their assigned positions in the adjacent building.

Jack said into his mic, "Final position check. Sound in before sending in Uno."

As everybody sounded in, Sydney repeated her only objection "We sure they won't just kill her the moment that she walks in the door? I mean, they did send assassins to her home a couple of hours ago?"

"We interrogated her on the way to this address," Mulder reminded her. "There have been schisms in the conspiracy for years, and her role with the government has made her useful to the international part of it. The fact that they may have sent an alien to do the job indicates that it was one of the less influential ones that tried to kill her. Some people in that building are going to be glad to see her. And all of them are going to want to talk to her."

Vaughn smiled at Sydney as he chambered a round into his weapon. "Who knew that even aliens would have bureaucracy issues?"

Sydney thought about her dealings with Division and the CIA, and tried not to laugh at some of the similarities. She sobered up and added, "They could kill her when she gets further into the inner sanctum."

"I believe we considered this an acceptable risk," Doggett replied dryly.

"Everybody quiet," Scully, who was the closest to the building. "She's up to the front door.

Covarrubias hadn't heard the conversation but seemed extra nervous anyway as she looked at the cameras, there was a buzzing.

"One way or another, we're losing visual on the target," Scully said as the diplomat went inside.

"Let's just hope the sounds are as descriptive as the sights." Mulder told her.

There were security cameras inside the building, but they had agreed that trying to tap into the feed would be suicidal if they were going to get what they needed. SO they relied on quality of the wire.

"Ah, Miss Covarrubias," a voice said "Rare that you grace our humble abode."

"Cut the crap, old man.," Covarrubias said harshly. "You know why I'm here."

"If I'm not mistaken, you've come seeking sanctuary," the voice said. "That is wise. But what on earth made you think that you could find shelter from the storm?"

"Maybe because your people are the only ones who can protect me this particular brand of darkness," Covarrubias ordered. "Besides, considering what I've gone through, aren't I entitled some kind of protection?"

"You don't happen to have any idea who the man on the other end of that speech is?" Sydney asked.

"Through this portal have passed some of the darkest men in the world," Mulder told them. "And even the ones who are still alive I never had names for. We're on our own."

Sydney rolled her eyes at Mulder's melodramatic presentation. She'd have to live with it.

"You've betrayed us before," the older voice said.

"All the men who could willingly sit in judgment on me are dead," Covarrubias pointed out. "Save for one. I'll yield to his judgment. Not yours."

There was a hesitation on the other end --- an uneasy one, Jack thought. "The accused does not get a choice as to the judge at their trial," the voice finally said.

"That's your opinion," Covarrubias told them. "I want to hear what the economist thinks."

"Mulder, do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Sydney asked.

"For all I know that's some kind of safe word," Mulder responded. "Besides, you're the ones who know who to break these kind of codes.

"What makes you think he's even here?" the older voice asked.

"Considering what happened with the Senator, and what's on the table for later," Covarrubias sounded more sure of herself now, "he's around Now I want to talk with the man from Rotterdam. Now."

**2:51:19**

**2:51:20  
**

**2:51:21**

**2:51:22**

"I'm telling you we're not going to get any more from here," Mulder warned them, "We're lucky that we got what we did. "

Jack was inclined to agree, but wasn't sure what to do. "We don't have eyes in there, " he reminded them, "and we still have no idea where the best angle is to grab him."

"Besides, we're not equipped to storm the Bastille," Sydney countered.

"Well, then what are we here to do?" Scully responded. "To stand around wait for her to die?"

.Just then, they heard something. "You said you wished to speak to me, Marita," a male voice with a heavy German accent replied.

"Please tell me that you know who that voice is, " Jack whispered.

"Right, because I've got an audio file on what these power mad conspirators sound like," Mulder told him. "You give me far too much credit, Agent Bauer."

Jack was about to add that, with so much of Mulder's life being obsessively dedicated to this damned conspiracy, he should be able to recognize at least _one_ damned voice, but listened into the bug anyway.

"I don't _want_ to speak to you," Marita was saying. "If I had my choice I'd never talk with any of you. But what you did this morning has forced my hand."

"You're still not in a position to negotiate," the voice told her.

"How sure are you of that?" There was an inflection in Marita's voice that none of them understood and liked even less. "You really think I would come back here unless I had another card to play?"

Bauer liked very little about this woman, but the fact that she had already found two people she knew by sight, and hadn't mentioned even one name, made him nervous. "Everybody, get ready to move," Jack warned.

"Let's play this out a little further," Mulder cautioned

"Before I came here, I made a stop at the Social Security office," Marta told the voice. "And my timing was a lot better than yours."

The pause was even longer this time. "So you have one of them," he asked.

"Along with a goodly amount of the data he's spent thirty-five years compiling," Marita was letting smugness enter her voice for the first time. "He's prepared to send it out all over the Internet within the next few hours should anything happen to me. "

"No one's going to pay any attention to that now." They could all detect the slightest sense of unease in the man's tone.

"If you really believed that, you wouldn't have toyed with the FBI for all that time," she pointed out. "They can still cause one bastard of a headache at a time when you don't need it."

"So that's why you came here: to offer his life for your freedom," The voice seemed to regain its center. "Is that it, Marita?"

"That's right, Gunther," Covarrubias said.

"There was another long hesitation. "Very well," the man said. "Bring him in."

"Oh, no" Covarrubias said. "I go any deeper into this building, I never leave under my own power. Come out and get him yourself."

There was another interminable pause. "What makes you think I won't kill you the second I have Smith?" the voice on the other end asked.

"I don't know," Marita replied. "What makes you think I haven't already sent the datastream on line? There has to be a certain amount of trust."

Under other circumstances, Jack might have laughed. But it did appear that they were getting what they needed. Because ten seconds later there was a buzzing. "Get ready," he whispered over the mike. He tapped his link to CTU. "Nadia, send out a line to NYPD. Keep them off of us—if they approach, we will consider them hostile forces and engage."

Nadia had been expecting Jack to call in, but that was odd, even for him. She nodded at Edgar to send out the order, but said, "Jack, are you sure? This is paranoid, even for us."

"We've reached a level of paranoia beyond our usual."

Nadia smiled. "You sound like you're missing your time at APO."

"There are no super weapons made by dead Renaissance Italians."

Nadia laughed. "Yet."

The front door of the office reopened Covarrubias came outside. With her were three men in suits. However, only two were carrying weapons. The third didn't but it seemed clear that he seemed more confident then the others.

"The one in gray," Sydney said. "He's the one we need."

"On three," Jack whispered. "One --- two--- go!"

The three men were already on the street by the "go" order. Jack popped up from behind the SUV, and two cracks from his carbine dropped the men on either side of the one in gray.

Both men dropped as Vaughn and Sydney dashed out from behind their cars, closing on the one in gray. Vaughn pistol-whipped him before he could react, and they both started to drag him towards Jack's SUV. Covarrubias took this as her cue to run like hell.

And _then _hell opened up.

All eight windows of the brownstone immediately opened up with automatic fire. Covarrubias dove behind one of the cars, Syd and Vaughn dragged their prisoner to the street, then Scully, Bauer and Doggett returned fire—briefly.

The three shooters dropped down, back behind cover. The numerous attackers had great coordinated fire—two of them pinned down Syd and Vaughn, and each of Bristow's support team was being covered by two rifles apiece.

Bauer ground his teeth as the bullets cracked all around him—against the sidewalk, the SUV, the street. This was becoming intolerable. He wheeled around to the door and slid into the backseat, then reached over, into the armory compartment. He grabbed two boxes, then threw them both into the passenger seat. He climbed into the driver's chair, gunned the engine, and sped straight for the brownstone's front door, the bumper of the CTU SUV almost running into the stairs.

The two gunmen who had been firing at Jack stayed with him, and one of the two who had been dedicated to Scully poured some extra fire into the SUV as well—which gave Scully an opening while the other one reloaded. The redhead popped up a moment, and fired three rounds, dropping her assailant.

Jack tapped the automatic window button, then crawled backwards, towards the passenger side before the bullets came through. He cracked open the first box, and jerked out the three smoke grenades he wanted, tossing them out the side of the car. In moments, the car was swallowed in smoke, and the surrounding area disappeared into the man made fog.

The gunfire broke off a moment. Without a field of vision, the gunmen could hit nothing. Jack knew he wasn't lucky enough for that to last long—if they had half the level of technology that he was worried they had, thermal imagery was not far behind. Then his problems would start in earnest.

Bauer took the other box and kicked out of the car, heading straight against the front of the brownstone. He couldn't see much of the building, but enough to see where the windows were...and he remembered which windows the gunmen were shooting out of. He pulled out five grenades, removing the pins from them two at a time, then popping the spoons at the same moment. He counted to five, then threw both of them, quickly going to the rest in the box.

Jack threw all ten in a matter of seconds, then dove under the SUV.

The explosion shook the building. Instead of fragmentation grenades, he had thrown incendiaries, and for a moment, the brownstone and been replaced with what looked like a giant fireball instead of numerous windows spitting fire.

Covarrubias got up and tried to run, but Scully emerged and knocked her down. "You're not getting off that easy", she whispered.

"All right, we got what we came for; let's get the fuck out of here!" Doggett whispered.

Jack rolled out from under the SUV, then headed straight back inside. He started to pull away from the brownstone, off the sidewalk, and stopped a moment. Mulder hadn't reported in. "Anybody got a twenty on Mulder?" he asked.

Several seconds passed. "Mulder, where are you?" Sydney yelled.

Then they got a response. "You have the men you need; I'm superfluous now."

"Goddamn it, Mulder," Bauer barked, "don't be stupid."

"Why stop now?" He joked. "I'm sorry, Jack," Mulder said. "I'm not getting this close to the truth and walking away. I'm staying here."

"They'll kill you when they catch you," Sydney reminded him. "Goddamn you, this is an order!"

"Really?" Mulder told them. "Because I don't work for you."

And before they could utter any protest, Mulder turned off his radio.

"_Damnit_!" Bauer roared.

**2:59:57**

**2:59:58**

**2:59:59**

**3:00:00**


	8. 3:00 PM TO 4:00 PM

**Chapter 7**

**The Following Takes Place Between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 **

**P.M.**

Sydney waited until she got Covarrubias in the car and double locked her handcuffs, before running over to Scully. "What the fuck is Mulder thinking?" she muttered angrily.

"This is what he does, Agent Bristow," Scully with a weariness that she had not really noticed in the ex-FBI agent. "We could be facing the apocalypse—which for all I know is on the docket today—and he would not be able to resist the lure of the Holy Grail."

"We've got an alien and two major conspirators in custody right now," Sydney reminded her unbelievingly. "That's not enough solid evidence for him?"

"He has been chasing these things for over twenty years," Scully told her. "My entire job when we working on the X-Files was to pull his ass out of the fire for situations such as that, and most of the time, he did it anyway. Why do you think the Bureau was so eager to boot us to the curb?"

"So how do we save him this time?" Sydney asked.

"You're the ones running this show," Scully said sarcastically, "I'd say this is your headache now."

Just then, Jack got on the radio. ""You're telling me that there's no signal at all, Marshall?"

"That depends," Marshall asked. "Did you even tell him how to turn his transmitter off?"

"No, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that part out," Jack told him.

"You really don't know Mulder." There was actually a half-smile on Scully's face. "He couldn't operate a device less complicated than a cell phone. Probably threw the thing away."

And that's when Sydney remembered. She darted into her vehicle, and found the Palm Pilot she had used earlier. "Come on, come on," she muttered. "Yes!"

Scully blinked. "What the hell is that?"

"When we were getting Smith, protocol dictated that I wired Mulder with a tracking device in case he tried to make a break for it," Sydney told her.

"You didn't trust us even then?"

"Coming from someone whose life motto is 'trust no one,' you two seem to take offense when we hedge our bets." She raised the pilot. "Right now, I'm beginning to see its value." She got on the radio. "Marshall, you make any progress on getting the blueprints for this building?"

"Took me some doing, but I managed to find it," he admitted.

"Triangulate Mulder's location based on the signal we're getting from the tracker, and figure out witch path he took." She got on the horn with Jack. "Jack, is the prisoner secured?"

"You know he is."

"Good. Take Smith and Agent Doggett, and find a place where you can work your magic on him. Tell Vaughn to rendezvous with us on the far east side of the building in three minutes. We need somebody to make sure the little blond diplomat doesn't try to fly away again."

"You're going in after him?" Jack sound a little incredulous.

"You don't think Marshall and I can't find a way in?"

"I had CTU do an infrared sweep on the building while we were waiting for you," Jack told her. "There are at least two hundred people in that building, and God knows what kind of security devices they have in there."

Sydney tried to make light of what was not going to be an easy mission. "You don't think I can do this?"

"Maybe I don't want to explain to my wife why I let her sister do something I didn't," Jack told her.

"Vaughn and Scully are going to be here," Sydney reminded him. "Plus I'm pretty sure the little diplomat will be more than happy to tell us whatever secrets this building has, and how to get past them. Marshall should be able to help with the rest."

"These people know that we're on to them by now," Jack reminded her. "They'll be cleaning up the place really fast, and killing whoever gets in their way."

"I have a feeling this may be the kind of place that will take some time to mop up," Sydney countered

Jack knew better than to try an talk down Sydney from these kinds of tasks. "Thirty minutes," he finally said. "That's how long I'm waiting until I call CTU and send in a SWAT team to take the building apart, if you haven't gotten Mulder out."

"You just told me—"

"I'm done being subtle," Jack told her. "Besides, I'm betting that by now, they're going to be giving us all sorts of headaches."

**3:06:37**

**3:06:38**

**3:06:39**

At that exact moment, those still unidentified 'others' were starting to apply the pressure from outside. A.D. Ritter had been taking calls for the past twenty minutes, and now he walked up to Nadia with a renewed look of certainty on his face

"I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing," he told her without preamble, "but I'm damned if we're just going to walk out of here until I get some damn answers."

Nadia didn't know how long this pantywaist from the Bureau had his current position, but given how nervous he was, she was betting less than a year. "What are you talking about?"

"Fifteen minutes ago, I just received a call from Homeland telling us that they were superseding the Bureau's authority, and pulling us from your jurisdiction." Ritter spoke like an adolescent told he has to eat his spinach.

"And yet, you are still here. Why?" Nadia coolly asked.

"Because I just received word from another source that the director of this facility has violated his own authority." Now there was a perverse sort of triumph in his voice. 'I now have discretion to go over Homeland and demand your compliance in further operations."

Nadia assumed that her husband had done something off the books—situation normal; he'd already violated half a dozen regulations in the past hour alone.. "What exactly did he do?" she asked casually.

The little Napoleon's expression faded a bit. "That's not relevant."

"I need to know what disciplinary actions you're raising against him. He park in a handicapped zone? Piss off a rogue metermaid?"

"Now is not the time to get cute, Agent Santos." Ritter told her

"This is a relevant question, _Mister _Ritter," she countered deliberately. "You're going to ream out my husband, I'd at least like to know what minor infraction he's committed to get your panties in a twist."

She had just enough time to notice Ritter's face turn crimson before she felt her cell vibrate. "Agent Bauer has overstepped his boundaries, and if he knows what's good for him, he'll get out of the way before he's causes any more of a mess." Ritter told her.

"Well, I'll be sure to tell him you feel that way," she said, as she reentered her office, and shut the door.

"Jack, what the hell have you done now?" she demanded the second she could answer the phone. "I got Homeland to override the Bureau, and now they're claiming they have leverage to do vice versa."

"Fuck!" Jack swore. "Somebody must have gotten info on the wet insert."

"How many people did you end up killing?"

"That's not the problem."

_That's how strange our lives have gotten when death is a secondary concern. _ "What happened?" Nadia asked.

"We got someone from the inner circle, or at least someone closer than the people we already had," Jack told her. "He hasn't said a word a yet, but we matched his fingerprints out of the International Database. A German national named Gunther Strughold. Don't bother running his name through the X-Files; there's nothing on him."

"Then where'd his prints come up?"

"U.N. He's the son of a diplomat."

"Why did our friend Miss Covarrubias insist on bringing him to this already crowded party?" she asked.

"She's says that he is critical to the conspiracy. But right now, I trust here as far as I can throw her," Jack paused. "Which is an option I'm starting to consider."

"Jack, you know that normally I have no problem with your interrogations," Nadia told him. "Problem is, I think someone at the Bureau knows who you've got as prisoners. That's adding to the fact that mistreatment of a diplomat leads to a whole new set of headaches that not even your highly placed friends may be able to learn about. You can't bring them here, and you can't take too long doing whatever you need to do," Nadia told him seriously. "Officially, CTU can't back you on this. Unofficially, you and Syd do what you need to."

Jack took a breath. "That's actually going to be another problem."

"What now?" Nadia said tiredly.

"In getting this man out of the building, Mulder managed to go in," Jack told her. "Sydney, Vaughn and Scully are staying behind to drag his sorry ass out."

Nadia sat back down. "He's barely been working for you an hour, and already he's disobeying a direct order. You really are a bad influence."

"I can't take credit; according to Scully he did this on a regular basis"

"Well, now you know how the other half lives," Nadia told him..

"I want a SWAT team on standby." Jack told her.

"I'll try and get it, but doing that may bring us a new set of problems," Nadia told him. "I think it's in all our interests if Syd and Vaughn still know how to work this kind of op."

**3:14:49**

**3:14:50**

**3:14:51**

**3:14:52**

For an ordinary building complex, the address had a lot of secure entrances. Sydney wondered how Mulder, a man with no expertise on subject had been good or lucky enough to find his way us. It had taken her five minutes to find a fire exit that she could use to get inside.

"You have a location on Mulder?" she said into the radio to Vaughn.

"We finally triangulated the signal," Vaughn told her. "According to it, he's on the fourth floor heading east."

"Has Covarrubias given you anything on the security?"

"There isn't much in the way of keycards or cameras, save for the ones in the stairwells and the elevators," Vaughn told him. "They've also got a few guards on each floor, she doesn't know how many."

"Great, I'm breaking into a bank," Sydney muttered. "Marshall, have you gotten anywhere on tapping into the video feed?"

"Actually, it's pretty simple. Not much more complicated then an ATM camera," Marshall replied.

"This relatively lack of security doesn't strike you as odd?"

"A little, but right now I think we'd better count our blessings," Marshall told her. "Oh, by the way, there are two people heading in your direction. Take evasive maneuvers."

Sydney realize the element of surprise might no longer be a factor, but she wanted to hold to it as long as possible. She found an empty room and ducked into it.

"Well, we've made contact with our government people, and considering the problems these people have raised, we should be seeing results any minute," one of the voices said. "We get ID's on the people who tried to raid us?"

"None of them are in the active protocol, but they did pull a sheet on two of them," the other voice said. "Agents Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn, CIA, currently inactive."

"What is their interest in all this? Why would they get in bed with Covarrubias?"

"They were willing to play footsie with Arvin Sloane for the better part of six years," the second voice reminded the first. "Compared to that, Marita's well below their pay grade."

"I don't see why we're being so above board handling them," the first voice said. "We had more then enough men to remove them as an obstacle."

"That's why you're not inviting to the bigger meetings." Now the second voice sounded like a pissed off tutor reprimanding a disappointing student. "The last thing we need is them making a bigger mess this close to zero hour."

"And Strughold?" By now the voices were fading

"Gunther can take of himself," the second voice reminded him. "Besides, given his protection, there isn't an agency in the world that will let them lay a finger on him."

"You'd better be right." Now the voices were gone.

Sydney waited another moment, then whispered. "You get all that?"

"Guess they don't think a lot of us here," Vaughn said sarcastically. "I'd be more insulted if I knew exactly what 'here' they were a part of."

"They also don't know that CTU's involves in this," Sydney reasoned, as she left the room "Otherwise, they'd be more concerned about how we get our information."

Scully, who had been quiet until now, spoke up "Maybe they do, and they don't think he's enough of a threat."

"Then why would Covarrubias ask for him?" Vaughn replied.

"I don't know," Scully countered. "Maybe she's playing with us Maybe he's another in a long line of blind alleys."

"Are you going to make this a problem?" Vaughn asked.

"I don't know. When exactly were you planning on telling Mulder and I that you rubbed shoulders with one of history greatest monsters?"

Sydney really didn't need this, so she decided to work through it. "Have you got a location on Mulder?"

"Still on the fourth floor, but now he's heading back the way he came," Vaughn said. "Marshall, please tell me that we have eyes."

"Hold on, and we're in." Marshall told them. "Well, you want the good news or the bad news?"

"What do you think?" Sydney asked, rolling her eyes.

"At the moment he's alone, but I've got two armed men heading his direction. Average foot speed, they'll be on him in thirty seconds."

Sydney started running to the elevator

"What's the good news?" Vaughn asked.

"Um, that _was_ the good news," Marshall told them. "Mulder is apparently trying to jimmy a security door. The second that he opens it, there's probably going to be some kind of mass response."

"Christ, babysitting Sark was less aggravating!" Sydney said as the doors closed.

**3:19:26**

**3:19:27  
**

**3:19:28**

Doggett had only heard half the conversation between Agent Bauer and the woman who was calling the shots, but from the moment Bauer hung up, he had begun to suspect things were going to get ugly fast.

Jack had asked for the address for a deserted building, and had silent from that point on. Now, as they arrived at the building, Doggett finally spoke up.

"I know you're trying to keep me out of this, but I did hear some of that last conversation," he told Bauer. "Strughold—and I know I've heard that name before somewhere, by the way—has diplomatic immunity."

"That's right," Jack told him.

"Pretty sure that anything happened to him, I'd be obligated to lock you up." Doggett reminded him.

"Which is why, if you have any interest in salvaging your career," Jack told him "you'd do well to get out of the car now."

Doggett considered his, then looked at his watch. "We have less than two hours to stop whatever the hell this thing is," he told him. Doggett hesitated. "Jack, when I was in the Gulf I saw some of things that the Republican Guard was capable of," he told him. "Lot of our boys came back with scars, but I don't know of any who broke."

Jack gestured to the back seat. "This man isn't a Marine," he pointed out.

"No, just part of a group of men who have been conspiring for decades to conceal the governments role in the existence of alien, something you learned about less than five hours ago. You really think that you're just going to start breaking fingers and he'll sing like a half-assed jailhouse snitch?"

In fact, Jack had been silent all the way to the location, because he knew that this interrogation was probably going to be more problematic one he'd done since he'd questioned Irina Derevko two years ago. And he didn't know enough about this guy anywhere nearly to know what his pressure points were or if the fear of death would make the man talk. But he also knew that at this point, any sign of weakness would only hurt him.

"We don't have much else," Jack finally aid. "Besides, due respect, I've had a lot more experience at this then you have. You and Mulder may be the experts on aliens, but now we're in my field. And considering that my help has gotten you this far, I'd appreciate it if you would try not to be a problem."

Doggett was still for several seconds. "I'm not gonna be a problem," he said finally. "I'm going to help."

If Jack hadn't been such an expert at maintaining his game face, he might have blinked or done a double take; that's how surprised he was.

"How long will it take for you to get set up?" Doggett asked..

"I just need a parking space."

Doggett arched a brow. "In Manhattan? I don't think we have that much time."

**3:24:26**

**3:24:27**

**3:24:28**

Despite the impression that he was giving Sydney and Vaughn, Mulder was not foolhardy or unaware of his situation. This was, after all, something he had done on more than one occasion, and had managed to escape from; otherwise, he'd have been killed a dozen times over.

So when he heard the sound of elevator cars moving, he left off attempting to pick the lock, ducking into the adjacent room, and brought out his Sig Sauer.

He wasn't quite shocked to see Sydney emerge from the elevator, looking royally pissed, and ready to kill the next person she looked at. That held off for a few seconds as she ducked inside the room across from his.

Less than five beats later, two guards walked right past both of them They gave the place the most cursory of observations before leaving less than half a minute later.

The moment that they were clear, Sydney propelled herself outside and ripped open the door of his room and leveled her weapon on him.

"You have any idea how much shit you're putting us through?" she whispered with enough venom in her voice to be toxic if it were real. "Jack's calling in every marker to get you your badge back. People are talking with the President to get your bogus conviction with the military kicked. And you celebrate by getting your ass right back into their crosshairs?!"

Even as she said it, she knew how much like Erin Driscoll or any of the dozens of higher-ups in the agency that she detested. _This bastard is bringing out my inner bureaucrat, _she thought.

"I've been looking for this place for more than half my life, Agent Bristow," Mulder said with a remarkable calm. "For the first time in my career, I actually had a chance to learn the truth before it was torn away."

"This place has been here for decades, Mulder," Sydney tried to sound patient. "It will be here when this crisis is over."

"That's bullshit, and you know it," Mulder countered. "Now that they know the government's interested, they'll make sure that this place was sanitized before you could get any kind of warrant!"

_Warrant? He thinks we work with warrants? _"Did you have an exit strategy?"

"I've been finding my way out of places like this long before—"

"Stop bullshitting me," Sydney interrupted. "Every time you search one of these facilities you get caught. This time when it happened, they don't have to bother with publicly embarrassing you; they'd just put a bullet in your brain."

"People have been trying to kill me for years and I keep drawing breath," Mulder argued. "Once they put me in the ground for three months; yet I am standing here before you. The government may find me a plague, but they seem to consider me a necessary evil."

There were implications in this that Sydney didn't want to explore, much as she wanted to. So she asked a far more pertinent question. "What's in the room that you' were trying—very ineptly, I might add—to break into? What is in there that was worth your freedom?"

"While we were en route, I had a brief conversation with Jeremiah Smith," Mulder told him. "He told me that in this office was a room with files. In those files were listings of places where the government synthesized the method that they're going to use to wipe us out. They were using bees to deliver the virus, but since bees have been dying off, they've had to develop a new system."

"That's already in the files," Sydney reminded them.

"But there's something that was in those locations not in the files,. Something I never got a chance to confirm." Now there was pain in Mulder's voice. "They had two sets of children managing the fields when I was there, all based on the same genetics. A boy and a girl." Mulder swallowed. "The girls were modeled after my sister."

Sydney knew from the files that Mulder's sister had been the foundation for his work in the FBI But she had also seen something else. "In the files, you made clear that your sister was dead."

"And I'm convinced she is, Agent Bristow. But I never understood how deeply her life was modeled in this conspiracy. I never understood why they used her flesh and blood to breed their evil." He hesitated. "I never got a chance to learn why. I asked Smith if he knew anything about it. He told me that they hadn't yet destroyed all the clones of Samantha."

Suddenly things were a lot clearer. "Smith knew where they were?" Sydney asked.

Mulder shook his head. "He said these people would know. He decoded part of the file. Said the information about the project was here, in room 417."

"And you didn't think that we'd be willing to help you after all the hoops we've jumped through already for you?"

"This isn't a priority," Mulder explained. "There's no way I'd be able to justify it with the deadline we had. I also know they will erase all information relating to as soon as they get the chance. My window was meager, and I had to take it.""

Sydney considered this, then got on the radio. "Marshall? How long would it take you to come up with an override code for the security system here?"

"Been working on it since you entered. Give me three minutes and I'll have it," Marshall told her.

"Get it ready," Sydney told him. "We've got one last stop to make."

**3:31:23**

**3:31:24**

**3:31:25**

"We got any guards heading our way? Sydney whispered into her radio.

"This isn't Attica, Syd," Marshall reminded her. "I've worked out the pattern these people follow; it's one shift per floor every fifteen minutes. You've got time.

"Then we'd better do this right," Sydney told them. "You have the override program ready?"

"Hang on. All right. The code is 458519732111."

Sydney punched it in. There was a long moment of doubt, and then the pad glowed green. ""We're in," she acknowledged.

"Your guy ought to have that stuff bottled," Mulder said to her.

Mulder ducked inside to a room fill with file cabinets and two computers, while Sydney stood guard. "Please tell me that Smith at least gave you more than a room number to help you find what you're looking for."

"He said that once I had access to their file system it would be obvious."

"Did he at least give you an access code?" Sydney asked.

"He found in the datafile. The rest was up to me."

Sydney knew this was a pointless question, but she couldn't help herself. "Were all your searches for answers like this so maddeningly vague?" she asked.

"I tried not to think about it too much," Mulder dodged the question.

"And that never got to you?"

Mulder flashed a smile. "Why do you think the lower echelon types at the Bureau called me 'Spooky?" He finished typing the code. "I'm in."

'In' was a list of file name that filled most of the screen. They might have made sense to someone who had spent twenty years looking for answers everywhere; Sydney couldn't make heads or tails of it. "I guess taking a digital version of this is out of the question," Sydney mumbled. "There anything that looks familiar?"

Mulder just studied the list for several seconds. Sydney was pretty sure he was about to say 'no' when he suddenly typed in 'Allentown."

A list of cities and locations immediately appeared on the screen.

"Why the hell isn't this stuff encrypted?" Sydney asked.

"Because the only people who have access to it are the people who are _supposed_ to be in here," Mulder reminded her. "You got another one of those flash drives?"

Sydney took one out of her pocket. "I don't mean to sound like a broken record but make this quick. A few more minutes and Jack'll have SWAT teams exercising a scorched earth policy on this building, conspiracy or not."

"Murphy's Law" was clearly in effect today. Mulder had just begun to download the data, when Vaughn got on the radio. "Syd, the guards just made their latest rotation. By my count, you've got ninety seconds."

Naturally, the file Mulder was downloading was big. "I'm working on it," Mulder said, his eyes not leaving the keyboard. He looked at her. "I know, work faster."

"One minute."

"I hope you're a better shot than you are a spy," Sydney asked.

And at that moment the download was complete. "Got it! ," Mulder said. "Where's the nearest exit?"

"Vaughn," Sydney warned.

"Rear stairwell to the fire exit, three lefts, then a right." Vaughn told them

Unfortunately, they made it only as far as the second left, when one of the guards appeared. Sydney's reactions hadn't slowed; she shot him twice without even slowing down.

"Well, that's going to draw in the rest of the roaches," Sydney told him "Let's hope they're slow to assemble. "

**3:36:49**

**3:36:50**

**3:31:51**

**3:31:52**

Jack was about to distract himself from one problem by trying to reassure himself on another. He was about to call in the SWAT Team when his cell rang. "Yeah?"

"We're going to have a hell of a mess," Vaughn said without preamble.

"What did they do?" Jack demanded.

"Sydney managed to get Mulder out intact; unfortunately in order to do so, she had to kill a guard." Vaughn told. "Those two hundred people who you said were in the building? I've got a feeling in the next few minutes they're going to start chasing us."

"Where are you?"

"Tearing ass down Madison Avenue, Jack," Vaughn said. "You think these people are angry enough that they would try to kill is broad daylight?""

"They already tried to kill Doggett and me," Jack told her. "I think these people are past the point of caring how big a mess they'll make. You want me to call in SWAT?"

"I'm waiting to see if they're going to chase us first. Maybe Sydney and I can lose them with evasive maneuvers."

"We just violated their sanctuary," Jack pointed out. "I don't they'll just give up."

"Let's hope you're wrong," Sydney spoke up. "Which raises another question where exactly should we be heading?"

Jack didn't think that hard. "Get back to CTU."

"We've gone to a considerable effort to keep these people from making sure the powers that be know about us," Vaughn pointed.

"In less than two hours, whatever first strike these people are planning is going to hit," Jack reminded them. "We've done everything we can do within this envelope; now we have to get all the help we can."

"Some of the people you end up calling could be on the side of evil," Mulder reminded.

Jack almost rolled his eyes at the naïve statement. "We can't do this alone anymore," Jack told him. "Call Nadia; tell them you're on the way, and to get ready to start moving."

'Where are you going to be?" Sydney asked.

"Hopefully getting some answers," Jack told them. "More than that, you're better off not knowing."

He terminated the call, and headed back towards the car.

While there was a small arsenal concealed within the trunk of every CTU vehicle, there wasn't as much room to easily to an interrogation, but he had done the bets he could. Strughold was tied up and handcuffed, his sleeves had been rolled up. Doggett was standing off to the side this gun still trained on.

"I'll admit, your position did make it difficult to find information about you," Doggett began, "but I finally figured where I knew your name from. Your father's name was Johann Strughold. Though German-born, he owned a mining company in the United States, but no one ever knew what exactly he mined." Doggett paused. "That's because he never dug anything up, he buried stuff there. Specifically, cabinets with files"

Jack wasn't sure this was going, but he decided to give Doggett a little latitude.

"Your father kept secrets. He took them with him to his grave." Doggett paused. "And, seeing as you seem to be in his old hangout, you know how he died.. Screaming for his life as and his colleagues were set on fire. "

"What is your point?" The man spoke with a very Prussian accent.

"Immolation is one of the most painful ways to die, so I guess anything less than that would be a pointless exercise. But the other agent, the one who drove you here, he specializes in bringing pain. Horrible, screaming agony. And unless they exaggerated the stories I hear round the water cooler," Doggett hesitated deliberately, "he can make you wish that you were being burned to death."

Strughold might have been an amateur at this, but he kept his poker face.

"Now we know you know all about the conspiracy." Jack suddenly remembered Doggett had spent some time with the NYPD; this questioning was textbook cop maneuvering. "And Marita Covarrubias, despite the fact that she is a lying, cold hearted bitch, did not pick your name at random. Meaning that you know something about what's happened today. The attack at the Bureau, Matheson's death, and whatever else you and your little Consortium have planned."

"This is an exercise in futility, you know," Strughold told them. "There are people very invested in my survival. People who will not tolerate an outsider attempting to interfere, who will demand my return without any damage."

"Well, to do that, they'd have to find you first," Doggett bent over the man and whispered. "And I happen to know from past experience that a body can't float in the Hudson for weeks before anybody finds it. If they can even identify it."

"A dull cliché," Strughold said. "You will not persuade talk with these idle threats. There is nothing that we you can do to that my colleagues will not bring about in exchange. Physical pain, I can stand."

Doggett looked at him, then shrugged. "Very well. We'll make this difficult, " He walked away and looked at Jack. "You've done more of this than I have , so I'll leave the decision in your hands, but I would start with the taser."

Jack shook his head. "No. You see, we have one thing that will work to our advantage."

"Oh, what?"

Bauer looked to the back bumper of the car, where Jeremiah Smith merely sat, waiting. "Mr. Smith, we need to talk."

**3:44:38**

**3:44:39**

**3:44:40**

Edgar, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last twenty minutes, came running into Nadia's office with a panicked look on his face

"What the hell have your family gotten us into?" he managed to sputter out.

"Edgar, calm down," Nadia tried to calm him down. but the CTU tech was having none of it

"A call just came over the police scanner," he told her. They're reporting a break-in and some kind of major security agency near Madison Avenue. Only the address they gave is exactly where Jack gave directions for an hour ago. They've dispatched half a dozen police cars to give chase."

"And they don't think that's overkill?" Nadia demanded.

"Not if you haven't been scanning the emergency wires," Edgar told her. "According to NYPD, they received calls from almost every major government agency _except_ us in the last fifteen minutes. They're only responding in kind"

At that moment, the phone on Jack's started ringing. "CTU, Santos--- "

"This is Nash with Division. What the fuck are your people thinking?"

_He didn't even bother with pleasantries this time_ Nadia thought to herself. _Syd must have really pissed them off this time._

"Could you be a bit more specific?" she managed to respond with a level voice.

"Don't even try to bullshit me, Santos. First you people arrange this abduction of a foreign diplomat, then you break into a private facility and obtain sensitive data without getting any kind of Agency approval," Nash stopped to draw breath. "This is beyond insubordination. This is treasonable activity!"

"I assure you, sir, that nobody at this office---"

"Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow are at the center of this," Nash seemed determined not to let Nadia get a word in edgewise. "And they wouldn't have done it without your tacit approval."

"May I ask, Director Nash, who gave you this information?" Nadia countered.

"You're in no position to make demands," Nash retaliated. "

"So what, I'm supposed to admit my guilt without having any idea what I'm supposed to have done?" Nadia asked with an easiness she didn't feel. "And considering an hour I asked for and received the blessing of Homeland Security who had communications with the President, I don't think that you're in a position to order me to go to the ladies room."

There was a hesitation on the other end "You really the President will stand by you in the face of an international incident?" Nash demanded

"When the possible repercussions involve a major strike on American soil, I think you know whose side that he'll come down on," Nadia answered with confidence.

"They're will be a team at CTU headquarters in less than twenty minutes."

"Good," Nadia countered. "By then we'll probably know where we're going to be hit. Then your people might actually be of use to us."

"This isn't over." Nash hung up.

Nadia put one hand to her forehead, and with the other dialed her sister's cell. "Edgar," she told the nervous tech. "Get ready to send out a message

By now, the situation was worsening. There were at least three police cars currently chasing them, and while no shots had been fired, Syd thought it was only a matter of time.

Just then her phone rang.

"Syd's , it me," Nadia told them. "What the hell have you been doing?"

"Hey, the last stop we made wasn't my idea," Sydney told her. "There wouldn't be something that you can do to get us out of this shitstorm we're riding?"

"I've got Edgar on it right now," Nadia told them. ""Where exactly are you?"

"67th on Central Park--- I don't know what side we've gotten to by now," Sydney admitted.

At that moment, a fourth black-and-white drove into the intersection ahead of them.. Vaughn had no choice but to brake.

"What the hell?" Mulder yelled.

"Calm down," Vaughn said. "I think this may be a reprieve from the gallows.."

A uniform was stepping out of his car, when his radio buzzed.. He held his position for a moment, then answered it. They couldn't make out what was being said, but from the officer's body language, he really didn't like what he was hearing. After several seconds of this, he put the radio, and angrily walked over to him.

Sydney was reaching for her weapon as her husband opened the window. "There a problem, officer?" Vaughn said with all the innocence he could muster.

"You know there is," the officer, "and if I was more sure of who I'd be pissing off, I'd override them. But since you people obvious have friends way about my boss, I have no choice, but to let you go." He narrowed his eyes. "Get the fuck out of here."

They needed no second bidding to do so.

"Thanks," Sydney said to her sister.

"Just be careful the rest of the way," Nadia told her. "At this point, I'd be crazy to think this was the end of all of our problems."

A black Mercedes was watching as they left. "We had them. What the fuck?" the driver demanded.

"Apparently, Agent Bristow still has friends in high places," the voice on the other end said. "But we've learned a lesson. From this point on, we don't go through any channels at all. From now on, lethal force is used. No matter who they know"

**3:56:52**

**3:56:53**

**3:56:54**

**3:56:55**

When they finally concluded what materials would work for what Jack had in mind, he slipped back into the car behind Strughold, Mr. Smith next to him.

"I've decided that Covarrubias was jerking us around, again. It's your job to prove her wrong."

Strughold scoffed. "To hell with you. What, you will kill me?"

"No." Jack leaned so far forward he was whispering in Strughold's ear. "You see, I hear all of this crap about aliens, and I still don't buy it." He stabbed Smith in the thigh with a needle, and drew out several units of blood, then put it to Strughold's neck. "This isn't as bad as injecting you with the black oil, but I'm told it's still a shitty way to go

Strughold's expression narrowed, but he turned to Smith first. "You're not supposed to do these kinds of things," he told the alien with a slight sound of desperation in his voice..

"These actions are repugnant to me," Smith admitted. "But the ones that your colleagues have taken are even more despicable. You're not going to offer mercy to this planet. Why should I show you any?"

"Really want to die for this cause, Herr Strughold? " Doggett told him. God knows, they wouldn't ."

"Enough fucking around. " Jack was pushing the plunger in when Strughold flinched.

"Penn Station" Strughold told him. "The attack is scheduled for a high traffic during rush hour!"

"What weapons are they using?" Jack demanded.

"The alien virus," Strughold whispered. "The black oil."

Jack took out his knife, and cut Strughold free of his bonds. Doggett walked to the other side, and they lifted the battered German to his feet. "Well played," Doggett said

"Now all I have to do is convince the security agencies in this country that New York is going to be attacked by an alien contagion in less than an hour," Jack reminded him. "By comparison, this may seem like child's play."

**3:59:57**

**3:59:58**

**3:59:59**

**4:00:00**


	9. 4:00 PM TO 5:00 PM

**Chapter 8**

**The Following Takes Place Between 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M.**

"Agent Santos, in the last three hours, I have been getting calls from almost everybody in the security division alphabet telling me to call off you," Mike Novick told Nadia.

"Mr. Novick, you know we don't do these things at random," Nadia reassured them. "And you're well aware that there is a clear and present danger to this country."

"And I've used that to justify what's happened., " Novick responded. " But when I hear from nine different people in less than an hour demanding that I shut down CTU regarding incidents of kidnapping of a foreign national, burglary of sensitive material from a private facility, and the murder of at least half a dozen civilians, I think deserve more information than 'trust me'."

Nadia winced at the last number. This was kind of mess that couldn't be wiped clean with the blanket approval of the President. She'd have to open the door a little wider on this. "This private facility, has anyone told you what it was or what material was removed?' she asked.

"I was informed that it was information involving industrial secret in some of our overseas government contracts."

_And they thought that this story would play with the President? _Nadia thought to herself. "Mr. Novick, I can assure you that at no time was any government agency--- including CTU --- involved in an overt or covert method behind any of these so called incidents," she told him.

"But you do know something about it," Novick countered.

"You've been in this game a long time, sir," Nadia reminded him. "Would you be getting a headache of this size if this was strictly a matter of big corporations?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Nadia, what the hell have you and Jack gotten involved in now?" Novick finally asked. "You call Homeland, and tell them to upgrade the threat level without giving any record of where the threat will be or even what it is going to be. Then suddenly I'm getting bombarded every five minutes from someone in the FBI or NSA telling me that agents under our employ are pissing off the wrong people. What's going on?"

Nadia wished she could level with Mike. The problem was, as loyal as he was to Jack and the rest of CTU, his ultimate allegiance was to the President. And the second they started telling this story to him, it went from a covert op to public knowledge, and right now, they didn't have any concrete evidence that anything was going to happen at 5:30 beyond a datafile whose origins could be charitably described as shoddy. David Palmer would forgive for some of their indiscretions, but not all.

"Not to mention the fact I'm getting a lot of bad feedback from the Attorney General on down for this pardon of Fox Mulder," Mike added. "Compared to some of the other scum we've granted absolution to, he's practically a virgin, but given the way the military and everyone else is screaming, you'd think he'd suffocated his mother with the American flag."

Nadia came to a decision. "Tell the President that in the next half hour, he can have a conversation with Mulder," she told him. "He'll be able to explain every action we've taken over the last six hours. Whether or not the President chooses to believe them,..."

"He's already had a look at the file you sent him." Marshall had sent Novick a very truncated version of the conspiracy.

"What does he think?" Nadia asked.

"He told me that this time, he's going to need a lot more than Sydney or Jack's say-so."

"He'll get it." Nadia knew that the stuff on Rimbaldi had given President Palmer agitation. This---

She tried to shrug it off, and wasn't surprised that she couldn't.

"Nadia, just get on it. I know how Jack works—the results are the only thing that matter to him. This time, he has to tread carefully, otherwise he won't get any."

"I'll explain that to him sir."

Mike chuckled. "Good luck with that." And hung up...

And phone rang again almost immediately. "CTU, Santos."

"We're in the middle of a shitstorn," Jack said with no preamble.

"What else is new?" Nadia told him. "Please tell me you have the location."

"Penn Station in the middle of rush hour."

"How much damage did you have to do to Strughold in order to get it?" she asked.

"Believe it or not, not much."

Nadia winced. She loved Jack dearly, but.... "Would you like to clarify that?"

"Not more than cuts and bruises," Jack told her. "There are advantages to have a rogue alien helping you."

"Now there's a sentence I bet you never thought you'd use, even after everything that we've been through.," Nadia jested.

"I'm still not sold on all the details," Jack admitted, "but after seeing what Jeremiah Smith has running through his veins, I guess I can't argue with the evidence." He hesitated. "The problem's going to be convincing the people that we need to help us in the next hour and a half. "

"I'm inclined to agree, "Nadia told him. "I've been running interference with the major security agencies about this crisis. But given he way everybody has been acting when I mention the name Mulder, his word won't have the same pull as yours."

"How far up the food chain have you gone?"

"I just got off the phone with Mike Novick. He told me that this time it's going to take more than our say-so to follow through," Nadia paused. "I told him that he's going to get it straight from the horse's mouth."

There was a considerable pause. Then Doggett who had been listening to this silently, spoke up for the first time. "You're going to put Mulder in a room with the President?"

"Yeah," Nadia said cautiously.

"There another way we can do this?"

This was not encouraging. "Why?"

"Mulder's a very persuasive man," Doggett told them. "You want to believe him after you hear from him. But the things he says are such lunacy that even after you see and hear the proof, you can't accept it. It took Scully _seven years _to believe, and she was his biggest supporter. I don't know what your colleagues have seen to convince them that Mulder wasn't the greatest bullshitter of all time, but I sincerely doubt that anyone else above your paygrade is going to willingly believe it."

Nadia, who had been worried about this exact same problem, tried to think of a way around it. "We've managed to convince the President of some pretty insane things," she began.

"I know our President isn't corrupt," Doggett told them, "but he's not a fool. He's not going to believe this sight unseen or because Jack and Sydney do."

"What are you saying---" Nadia started.

"He's right," Jack said. "If the President even puts these kinds of ideas forward, people are going to question his sanity. Congress, the Cabinet, they could raise a lot of problems for him, and those our headaches he doesn't need."

"So how do we handle this?" Doggett asked.

Nadia considered this. "We find a way that we can sell it to him," she said. Maybe we find a way not to bring alien life into the discussion."

"Covarrubias," Doggett said finally. "The fact that she's linked to this conspiracy will give her some pull. And linking it to an international _coven_ will probably be an easier sell than extraterrestrial life."

**4:11:20/**

**4:11:21/**

**4:11:22/**

**4:11:23**

Though Vaughn and Sydney had visited their in-laws several times, they had only been to CTU-NY once before, and not in a professional capacity, certainly not under circumstances like now. However, their biggest trouble had come when Covarrubias had basically thrown a fit that she wouldn't go one step inside the building unless some kind of deal was negotiated.

"From what I heard from Jack and Mulder," Sydney pointed out. "you are in no position to be making deals."

"I've just betrayed the Syndicate, and you want me to walk into a government building where they can do whatever the hell they want to me," Covarrubias insisted.

"For Christ sakes," Scully told her, "you're as bad as Mulder. They're not going to execute you the minute you come in the door!"

"What makes you think they won't? Thanks to you I just came expendable," Covarrubias told them with a touch of hysteria in her voice.

"All right," Sydney said. "We can't play around with you any longer." She looked back at Smith, who had been very quiet over the last hour. "Mr. Smith, do you have any objections to this?"

"I don't have a problem," Smith told them. "However, I think it would be best for everyone concerned if I dealt primarily with Mulder and Scully. I realize your intentions are honorable and you've demonstrated nothing but good faith so far, but the people in that office are going to have big problems with me, and it's going to be easier coming from them," he pointed to Mulder and Scully "then coming from you."

"I'm not sure whether we've been complimented or insulted," Vaughn asked.

"Take it however you want," Mulder replied. "Speaking from experience though, I'd hold on to my credibility as long as possible."

Sydney turned to her husband. "Watch Covarrubias," she said in a whisper. "I don't care if she is offering us the keys to the kingdom, I still don't trust her."

"Neither do they," Vaughn pointed out. "In any case, you're going to have enough trouble selling the three of them to anybody higher up the food chain."

"Let's hope you're wrong," Sydney said.

"He's not," Mulder added.

After getting off the phone, she looked outside, and saw a welcome sight--- her sister walking in with the former agents Mulder and Scully, and a man of indeterminate age, who could only be Jeremiah Smith. _Cavalry has arrived _ she thought as she walked outside.

"I think that under the circumstances, asking to see pictures of Isabelle would be inappropriate," she said with a small smile.

"Well, when we save the city from whatever the threat is, I'll have Marshall design a slide show for you," Sydney promised.

The Bristows were not an emotional family, but Nadia decided to hug her sister anyway. She didn't put up much of a fight this time though.

"If I understand this correctly, you're her sister," Mulder chose to speak up. "And Agent Bauer--- who very conveniently has disappeared--- is your husband."

"You have a point?" Nadia asked

"Family reunions must be a barrel of laughs," Mulder clearly didn't realize what he'd said, but he could tell from the brief, almost unnoticeable winces that both women gave that he'd made a real _faux pas_. "Let me guess: this is part of the long story, you're not going to tell Scully and I."

Bristow smile. "There's no time. Let's see if we can survive whatever fresh hell is going to be descending upon us," Sydney told him. "Then we can compare war stories."

"Or soap operas," Nadia said. "And by the way, I've read some of the files. Impressive stuff, but I still think we're gonna win."

At which point, a loud, annoying voice cut through the air as a man started marching towards them. "Agent Santos. What the hell are you thinking: giving these people clearance with CTU?"

_Great. _Nadia thought. It had taken Ritter less than a minute to start resuming his pattern of irritation. "And what's your problem now?" Nadia asked. "As you've made clear over and over, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are no longer part of the FBI. Your jurisdiction over them ended when Mulder resigned."

"They have no authority here," Ritter persisted. He stopped within striking distance of Nadia, which she could only assume was tempting fate on his part. Lord knows it wasn't for intimidation.

"When Jack Bauer returned to CTU during the crisis with the nuke, the government had no problem restoring his clearance in the condition of a national emergency. I would certainly say that what's good enough for him will work here." Nadia paused. "You can take this to your superiors,. Ritter, but I think we've demonstrated by now that I've got more than pull than you."

Ritter was clearly not happy with this, but before he could open his mouth, Mulder spoke up. "Ritter?' he asked. "Peyton Ritter?"

"You know this man?: Sydney asked.

"We met. Once." Mulder looked at Nadia. "I'm under your supervision now?"

"Until Jack gets back in, yeah." Nadia said.

"I'm willing to take any disciplinary action you might want to give."

And before this even resonated with Nadia, Mulder took one forward, coming within a foot of Ritter, and kneed him squarely in the balls.

As he doubled over, Nadia couldn't help but think. _I knew he was our kind of people _Aloud, all she said was: "Syd, maybe you better get Mulder in another room and try to figure out how to keep him from pissing any other agencies off until Jack calls in."

**4:19:38/**

**4:19:39/**

**4:19:40**

"The X-Files had been reopened, but Scully and I were still assigned to bio-terrorism," Mulder was explaining. "And back then it was a shit detail, literally."

"It still is," Monica Reyes assured them.

"In the middle of January, the late A.D. Kersh thought he was being magnanimous and gave Scully an assignment working an actual series of homicides with this rookie agent Peyton Ritter," Mulder told them "I guess back then they thought he had potential, but he still couldn't recognize an X-File when he saw one.

"He thought that a crime scene photographer in New York named Alfred Fellig was actually committing the crimes that led to the dead bodies he would later shoot," Scully told the assemblage. "when in actuality Fellig had an innate ability to tell when people were about to die. If you believed his story, Fellig was over 150 years old, and had been looking for death since the yellow fever plagues near the turn of the century."

"Scully and Fellig are having a conversation, when Ritter, convinced that the man is a murderer, bursts into his apartment, fails to adequately warn Fellig, and fires. He missed," Mulder paused, "and hit Scully."

Up until now, Sydney had thought Ritter was little more than a makeshift bureaucrat. Now she saw just how incompetent and potentially dangerous the man was.

"I can't begin to explain what happened," Scully said, "but somehow when the dust cleared, Fellig died of a gunshot wound, even though I was the only one who got shot. I had hoped that would be the last I ever saw of him"

"Yet somehow, it doesn't surprise me that he managed to survive that blemish, and rise to the middle of the FBI's hierarchy," Reyes told them. "He's been pissing all over CTU ever since I got here."

"Is there any particular reason that your sister hasn't shown him the door by now?" Mulder asked.

"Because," Nadia, who had just reentered the room told them "this is a situation that needs to be handled with diplomacy, at least until I had enough intel to dropkick the son of a bitch out of here. I understand you had a grievance with him; hell, I've been wanting to beat the guy up ever since he got here, but you just don't beat up someone with his clearance in another agency."

"Come on, Nadia," Sydney countered. "you have everything we need to handle this now. Have Mulder pretend to seem contrite, then get the little prick out of here as fast as you can."

At that moment, Nadia's phone rang. "That'll be Jack. Let me put you on speaker," Nadia said. ""Everybody in the room is classified to hear this. Tell them what you told me."

"Penn Station, rush hour." Jack told them. "The idea is to infect a high traffic area with the alien virus, which I'm given to understand takes the form of black oil."

There was a moment as this sunk in.. "Do we know how much of the virus they have?" Mulder responded first. "Or how they intend to deliver it?"

"Wouldn't you have a clearer idea of that then we would?" Sydney asked.

"I already told you, the only method of delivery they ever used when I was in the bureau was bees," Mulder told them. "And somehow I don't think they can get an entire apiary into Penn Station without even somebody noticing it."

"They've upgraded the process." Jeremiah Smith, who had been quietly keeping to himself for the last fifteen minutes, finally spoke up.

"How?" Sydney asked

"The virus is not unlike a sentient being," Smith told them, "and over the past decade, it has adapted to changes in its environment. It can be held in stasis only by extreme cold, and an increase in temperature can cause it to migrate to the more active presence."

"But how would they deliver it?" Jack asked.

"At room temperature the virus can be so active that anyone who tried to carry it would be infected in a matter of seconds," Smith replied. "The only safe way to deliver it would be to pack it in ice, leave in certain key areas, and wait for it to melt. I have little doubt that these people actually placed it hours ago."

"But the datafile said that the attack was scheduled for 5:30," Sydney pointed out.

"With the proper amount of packaging, it is possible to estimate release within a thirty minute window."

"That still doesn't tell us where to look---"

"Air conditioning," Everyone looked toward Mulder. "The cool air would act like a time delay. And by using the ventilation, it could infect anybody on any level of the terminal."

"Get Homeland and CBC," Jack told them. "Inform them that their hub is Ground Zero for a major biological attack. Tell them to suspend train and subway service into Penn Station right now. We also need to find a way to evacuate the area and get as many people as we can out of the terminal. "

"Whoa, we shut the place down that'll kick up the temperatures in the vents," Sydney reminded them. "The virus could still turn the place into a hot zone."

"We don't have a choice," Nadia pointed out. "This could be worse than Tokyo during the sarin attacks."

"We have to notify the President."

"You're going to tell the President that we're about to be attacked by aliens?' Mulder spoke, with the faintest bit of amusement in his voice.

"No, Mulder," Sydney told him, "you are."

That, he didn't find so funny.

**4:28:17/**

**4:28:18/**

**4:28:19/**

**4:28:20**

"I don't understand," Vaughn demanded of his prisoner. "You say you want protection, but won't go into the one place where I can guarantee your safety."

"Government protection?" Covarrubias gave a bitter laugh. "I already explained this to Bauer. The government's filled with people who want me dead, and ever since I did your little demolition of the Syndicate's headquarters--- and there will be ramifications for that, make no mistake--- I just moved into the ten most wanted list. And you're asking me to go in their and become a sitting duck."

"Hmm... with me, Syd, Nadia, Jack, Smith, Mulder, Scully, Reyes and Doggett, you make #10. If they knew about Marshall, you wouldn't even break that." Rather than admit that there was some validity to the diplomat's concerns, he had asked a more relevant question. "Then what can we do so that you talk?"

"I have to get out of the country," she told them. "Only they're can't be any record of it, I have to just vanish. And since your lovely little act probably alerted all of the people who might help me, you owe it to get me out of here."

"Why should we help you at all?" Vaughn countered. "So far you've given us enough to merit witness protection, much less than what you're asking for."

"Come on, you really think that the attack at 5:30 is the only thing they've planned for the country today?" Covarrubias pointed out. "Everything that's happened is just the opening number. By the time the day is done, they'll have manage to completely undermine this country."

"The President---"

"These people have murdered Presidents who thought they could stand in their way," Covarrubias continued to bear down "David Palmer's administration will be ground into the dirt. You think his word reassures me?"

Just then Vaughn's phone rang. "Talk to me," he said as he answered.

"We've got a target," Sydney told him. "They're planning to infest Penn Station with the alien virus. And given what we learned, this could happen any time in the next hour."

"Fuck!" Vaughn swore. "Have you contacted the President yet?"

"We're setting up the meeting now," Syd told her husband. "But we need to get moving now, or this will get out of our hands before we even have a chance to set up."

"Have we got a game plan?"

"Since Jack and Agent Doggett are already in the field, they're going to head out and lead the incoming teams."

"What about the prisoner they still have?"

"There isn't enough time to bring him in. Strughold--- they managed to extract his name along with his intelligence--- will come with them. "Sydney paused. "He claims not to know the exact placement of the virus."

"Does Jack believe him?' Vaughn asked doubtfully.

"He pushed him pretty hard.," Sydney told him. "About the only thing he has left to threaten him with is infection, so maybe that's are best shot at finding what else he knows."

Vaughn considered this. "Covarrubias is proving to be a shrill bitch," he told his wife. "She won't give details, but she insists that the 5:30 attack is only part of what these conspirators have planned. She also says that government protection is a wasted effort as far as she's concerned."

"Given the way our guests from the bureau have been talking, I'm inclined to agree," Sydney told him. "Besides, of all people, we know this better than anybody here."

Vaughn couldn't argue. "What's the plan?"

"They're going to need some other agents in Penn Station. Jack says he wants our help."

'I don't have a problem with that, " Vaughn said. "but what about the diplomat?"

"We were so focused on getting the fuck out of that little honey pot Mulder got us into, that we didn't bother to give Covarrubias the treatment she deserves." Sydney gave a small smile. "I say en route, we see if there's another way to loosen her tongue."

**4:35:26/**

**4:35:27/**

**4:35:28**

"This is going to be a hard sell," Jack instructed Mulder and Scully. "The President is open-minded, but you go into hypothetical without any basis for fact, he'll dismiss you in less than two minutes."

"Agents Bristow and Vaughn have seen evidence of this," Mulder reminded them. "Lest we forget, there's an actual alien here to corroborate my story."

"And that's going to go a long way to helping you," Nadia told them. "But you've got a bad reputation with government authority, most of whose help we're going to need if we're going to have any chance of stopping the attack. I've been trying to clear the path, but you really don't want to know how many people you've pissed off in your search for the truth."

"I lost count after three hundred," Scully pointed out, "And while I was at the Bureau, they said I helped helm him in.."

"I'm supposed to be the funny one in this relationship," Mulder sounded only half in jest.

Nadia smiled. "I have yet to see evidence of that."

Edgar walked into the room. "We're ready for the call," he told Nadia.

"Enough kidding around," Jack told them. "Let's just do this."

Nadia pushed the button for the satellite hookup.

"Agent Santos," the President said. "Mike and Lynn have spent the last six hours trying to rearrange half the government because of your intelligence. While your word usually is good enough, you'll forgive me if I want a little more than that this time."

"Mr. President," Jack told them from his hookup. "At this time, there is a credible threat to the people of New York. We have it on very strong authority that there will be an attack in Penn Station within the next hour."

"What is the nature of this threat?" Mike asked.

"Biological," Jack told them. "With the possibility of infecting hundreds of thousands." Nadia just noticed Mulder blink a couple of times.

"What organization is behind this?" Lynn asked.

"We're not sure," Nadia admitted. "but there is a very strong possibility that it may involve people within our own government."

"How sure are you of this intel?" Mike asked.

"Not sure enough," Jack admitted. "Which is the reason we've had to rely on outside sources."

For the first time, the President looked at the three strangers in the room. "Mike and Lynn have been trying to keep me cushioned from having to deal with certain elements," he told her. "But I won't pretend that I haven't heard of Fox Mulder."

Mulder definitely blinked when he heard this.

"Mr. Mulder," President Palmer told him. "Richard Matheson was a very good friend to me when I was still a Senator. He didn't speak very highly of a lot of people, but he thought you were doing God's work in that basement office."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Mulder managed a certain amount of hope. "You have no idea what an honor this is. However, the circumstances currently facing are critical, probably more than you've been told."

"What is the true nature of this threat, Mr. Mulder?"

Despite everything that had happened in the last few hours, it took Mulder a couple of seconds to find his voice. "The threat is biological, sir," Mulder told him. "It is also extra-terrestrial in origin."

Even from across town, Nadia could tell the level of disapproval that suddenly appeared in Novick's and Kresge's expressions. The President, at least, managed to maintain a level expression. "You're certain of this?" he asked.

"I wish I weren't, Mr. President," Mulder told them. "The exact threat is a virus that takes the form of a black oil. Introduced into a human biology, the effect is to completely overwhelm the human brain activity. The skin, blood and other dermis become almost gelatinous. Within ninety-six hours, a new life form is born out of the host body, one that is completely alien in nature."

There was a long pause as this sunk in. "Do you have evidence that this oil is currently in hostile hands?" Novick asked.

"Doesn't matter whose hands it's in," Mulder pointed out. "It's fatal in any case."

"That wasn't the question," Kresge replied.

"No." Everyone seemed a little surprised that Scully had spoken up, and against Mulder. "I'm sorry, but we have no physical evidence that the virus is anywhere."

"What are you basing the evidence of this threat?" the President asked.

"Interrogation of a man suspected to be allied with these terrorists," Jack told them.

_First time I've heard them called terrorist_ was the first thought to go through Mulder's head. _How exactly did they make one of those people talk? _ was went through Scully's mind.

"Is this source credible?" the President asked.

This was not a question that any of the others felt comfortable answering. "Believe me, Mr. President," Jack told the assembled, "he had no reason to lie."

"This wouldn't happen to be the man the German consulate has been making noise about for the last two hours?" Kresge asked slowly. "There's a lot of noise about the abduction of one of their ambassadors."

"Even there was something to that," Jack told them. "I can assure you that nothing has been done to harm him."

Nadia could tell that her husband had managed to keep a straight face at this, but now was not the time to ask questions. "Sir, I realize that this is all very difficult to believe," she began. "I'm right at the center of this, and I'm still having trouble accepting some of what they've been trying to sell us. But we have enough intelligence gathered to state with confidence that this attack is tied to the bombing of the Federal building and very likely the Senator Matheson assassination as well."

That did get their attention. "Why are you so certain?" Mike Novick attacked.

"Both attacks can be linked to the X-Files." Agent Scully spoke up. "Mr. President, among the dead at the FBI was listed Assistant Director Walter Skinner who supervised the X-Files for more than a decade. Furthermore, earlier today, an assassination attempts were made on Special Agent Doggett, who ran the X-Files for a time. In the past three hours, two other allies both with links to Mulder, have been targeted as well. This has something to do with the X-Files, and if that's the case, it has something to do with alien life."

The President looked ahead. "You're former agent Dana Scully, aren't you?" he asked.

Scully's calm seemed a little rattled. "Yes, sir."

"Senator Matheson mentioned you on occasion as well," The President sounded more collegial than he had before. "Said you were Mulder's closest ally. He also said you wouldn't believe in the supernatural if it walked up to you and shook your hand."

Scully actually reddened a little at this. "I was young once, Mr. President," she told him. "And for most of my years with the bureau, I kept them shut. Believe me when I tell you, they're open now."

The President was quiet for a several seconds. "Here's what's going to happen," he finally said. "I'm going to contact the Governor...no, forgive me, the mayor, and tell him that we have intelligence that Penn Station is going to be the target of a terrorist attack. He'll sputter and rage, but he'll get traffic shutdown." The President looked at Nadia. "I've already heard from Karen Hayes. I assume that CTU can coordinate with Homeland about searching the terminal."

"We just need you to give the order, sir." Nadia said.

"Consider it given." The President held up a hand. "But I'd better make something clear. Until you have proof undeniable that there is something out -of-this-world behind it, at no time will you mention to anyone the word 'alien'. As far as I'm concerned, that word doesn't leave the people on this call. Got it?"

Everyone gave signs of assent. Mulder waited several seconds before giving a reluctant nod.

"Jack, I want you to run point on the search."

"But, Mr. President," Scully told them. "Agent Bauer---"

" --- is less than a block from Penn Station by now." The President finished. "It's the only reason he wouldn't be physically in the room for this situation, right?"

Jack didn't even bother to hide it. "I needed you to give the order.," he told them.

"Go, Jack," the President said. "As always seems to be the case, time is not on our side."

**4:50:43/**

**4:50:44/**

**4:50:45/**

**4:50:46**

Sydney had ridden in the back seat as they had driven out to Penn Station, trying to manage a more forceful 'interrogation' then the one that Jack and Agent Doggett had managed on Covarrubias when she had been in their custody.. It is not easy to torture someone while in a moving vehicle, but she was doing the best she could.

She had decided to go straight into the chemical part of the interrogation, and was trying to use one of the more painful of the truth serums. She had already injected five cc's into the diplomats body, but for all the good it was doing, it might as well have been ginger ale.

"What is the next stage of the plan?" she demanded as she prepared the syringe.

"You're wasting your fucking time," Covarrubias spat out.

"Interrogating you or injecting you?" Sydney said as she pressed down on the syringe.

"Both," the diplomat said. "You should really compare notes with your friends. In 1998, another man with even less regard for human life than you had me infected with the very black oil you're trying to stop. The process was excruciating, and even after being injected with a vaccine, it took me the better part of six months before I felt anything close to human." She spat at Sydney. "Nothing in my life has ever been so painful, and I remember every detail. If I didn't talk then, I'm not going to talk now."

"If you were injected with the virus, they wanted you dead," Vaughn chose this moment to speak up now. "Why on earth would you protect them?"

"I'm protecting myself, Agent Vaughn," Covarrubias whispered. "But we've been through this already, so I won't repeat myself. I'm not telling you anything until I am satisfied that you can stop this attack." Before they could continue, she added: "By the way, getting injected with the virus after you've been vaccinated has the same effect as the one you get for any disease.. So if you're going to try and use the black oil as a trump card, don't bother."

Sydney's thoughts had dwelled on this, so she remained silent. Just then, Vaughn spoke up. "Conversation's about to become moot," he told her. "We're here."

As they pulled to a stop about a block away from the giant post office that was right across the street from the main entrance, his cell phone rang. "Vaughn," he spoke.

"It's Jack. We just got the official okay from the President. We're good to go."

"Guess we missed Mulder's conversation with the President," Vaughn told him. "How did he go over?"

"He believes that there is some kind of threat," Jack told them, "but he's been very clear in his instruction. At no time when we're talking with anybody should we mention the word 'alien' to anyone here. "

"Like he needed to tell us this. How did he actually believe that?" Sydney asked.

"The President was apparently a friend of the late Senator Matheson," Jack told them. "Actually gave him some credibility. But we'd better not blow it here."

"What side of the terminal are you on?" Vaughn asked.

"Seventh Avenue, approaching the north. Homeland's set up a checkpoint there." Jack told them. "We're going to move as soon as we figure out what to do with our prisoner."

"Strughold's still alive?" Sydney asked with some surprise.

"My guess is he's got more secrets to tell," Jack said.

"Excuse me one moment," Sydney took out her Sig Sauer. "We've got another prisoner, and one who'd be willing to talk. We really don't need you any more, Marita. Thanks for playing."

She was putting the gun to Covarrubias' head when finally the diplomat facade broke. "All right, all right!" she sputtered. "The code numbers in the datafile, the ones you couldn't translate, they're targets. High level people who the conspiracy has decided need to be remove."

"Who?" Sydney demanded.

"I don't know, But," she said before Sydney could react. "Smith will. He's been collecting those numbers for decades. He'll know how to translate them!"

Sydney put her gun back. "You get all that, Jack?"

**4:56:08/**

**4:56:09/**

**4:56:10**

"Yeah. Fortunately, we didn't drop off Smith either," Jack told them.

"How hard have you pressed him?" Sydney asked.

"Gently," Jack admitted. "Frankly, I didn't want to believe you. Then I took a sample of his blood--- or whatever it is."

"Not going to ask what you tried to use it for," Sydney asked. "Are you just not sure how to handle a alien?"

"Not sure how to handle a friendly one," Jack replied. "But let's save ET for later. How quick can you get here?"

"Depends on whether you want Covarrubias and Strughold in the same space." Sydney replied.

"Absolutely not," Jack replied instantly. "Couple of CTU got here ahead of us. I'll radio one of them, tell them to take possession of her. We'll get the people at Homeland to take charge of Strughold."

"What about Smith?"

Doggett chose this moment to speak up. "He's coming with us," he said. "It's going to be a little crowded, but right now, he's basically the only one who can help us locate the virus unassisted."

"Which brings up one last point," Vaughn said. "If the virus is here, does that mean there's going to be any hostiles, human or otherwise?"

"Strughold said no, Smith said probably not," Doggett told them. "But I can't believe that these people would organize an attack of this magnitude and not have at least one sacrificial lamb making sure that everything went according to plan."

"This is security, I'm making one final sweep. There isn't a chance you could tell me what the hell I'm looking for?" the security guard said into his walkie-talkie.

"Sorry, Chuck. All they gave us was to checking for something suspicious."

Chuck snorted. "I knew that whole 'if you see something, say something' approach was going to get us nothing but trouble," H e was about to expand on that theme, when his flashlight reflected on something. "Hang on a sec."

Lying under the escalator was a man dressed in black, who looked like he was passed out the drunk. "What the fuck is this?" he told him "Haven't you heard, pal? Everybody has to get out. That applies to you."

No response. "They don't pay me enough, " he muttered as he shone the line directly into his man's face.

His eyes opened the instant it happened, and before the guard had time to react, the poor guard was seized by the throat.

"Chuck, what's happening? Chuck, pick up!" the walkie-talkie buzzed.

Several seconds later, someone answered. "This is Chuck," someone with the voice of the security guard responded. "Just chasing some bum off the scene. The floor is clear."

"Good. Homeland's finally arrived. Maybe now we'll get some goddamn answers."

"Maybe," Then the creature who Mulder and Scully had known as the Alien Bounty Hunter shifted until he looked like the security guard he had just killed.

**4:59:57/**

**4:59:58/**

**4:59:59/**

**5:00:00**


	10. 5:00 PM TO 6:00 PM

**Chapter 9**

**The Following Takes Place Between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.**

Though it was not as well-known as Grand Central, Penn Station was probably the far more impressive of New York's transits hubs Lying adjacent to Madison Square Garden, it was the crossing point for many of the major subway lines, a huge amount of the intra- New York Traffic, and the major hub for out of state travel. If you wanted to hit a huge amount of New York's population, this was the place to do it. The station went several floors, and had twists and turns to its brown-tiled hallways that native New Yorkers who _didn't _pass through there on a daily basis would be hard pressed to find their way out of the maze.

Ever since 9-11, one would have hoped that the increase in security would have made it harder for infiltration by any hostile group, let alone terrorist action. But the brutal truth was Penn Station had never been treating with same regard as any of their airports. There were a fair amount of New York's finest present, as well as a station across from a Pizza Hut, and one could infrequently see a man in combat fatigues prowling the halls. But Homeland, which was provisionally in charge, had never done much for it, and Doggett had a feeling that it would cost.

"How much experience have you had with Homeland?" Doggett quietly asked Jack.

"This is a lousy time to be concerned about territorial issues," Jack reminded him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it,". Doggett told them. "If there's any place for this attack to go horribly wrong, this is where the conspiracy would stick its nose in."

"I'm well aware of that, but we don't have a choice," Jack pointed out. "CTU isn't big enough to completely oversee this kind of operation. We need people on the ground, and right now, Homeland's the only organization I would trust with this."

"I know, Jack, but on more then one occasion on the X-Files, I went to people I thought I could trust, and they ended up being the worst kind of traitors," Doggett told them.

"Listen, I know far better than most that sometimes people you trust with your life are completely unreliable," Jack told him. "So do Sydney and Vaughn, for that matter. But we're also aware that no man is an island, and if we don't have some level of faith, a lot of people will end up dead."

Doggett resisted the urge to tell Jack that if this faith was misplaced, the same thing would happen. But he knew Jack knew this as well, and that he was also right--- they couldn't do this alone. So he shut up, as the marshals from Homeland came over.

"This man is part of this attack, and the ones that happened earlier today in D.C." Jack told the Marshal. "He is to be kept under guard until the current crisis has passed. Unless you get instruction from either Agent Doggett or myself, you are not to let anyone see this man or even know that we have him in custody."

"Understood," the Marshall told them.

"Where's the head of field ops?" Jack asked.

"Here," A man in a jacket stepped forward. "Tom Kinsey. Glad that you're here. Could somebody please tell me what the nature of this attack is? "

"I sent out a message to search the ventilation system for anything suspicious," Jack informed them.

"There are several miles of ventilation in Penn Station," Kinsey told them. "Plus it's not the most easy place to maneuver or send in cameras. We'd probably have an easier time if we knew what to look for."

Doggett turned to Smith. "This is what you're here for," he told the alien.

"The easiest way to contain the virus has been inside geological stratum--- rocks, to be frank," Smith told them. "In order to increase the volume of the virus, the conspirator ground the rocks into powder and mixed with dirt--- tripled the speed of the infection." Smith paused. "There's a reason that your people haven't been able to find the virus--- it's been hidden in plain sight."

"What is this?" Kinsey asked. "Some variation on anthrax?"

"Worse," Smith told them. "Doesn't work nearly as fast, but once it invades the host it completely overwhelms the brain in a matter of minutes."

"Christ. Who developed this mother, Al Qeada?"

"The contagion is foreign, but we still don't know all of the people behind it.," Jack interjected. "Right now, we have to focus on containing the threat."

Just then, they heard screaming from the east. "That's from the decontamination center!" Kinsey yelled.

"How many people do CDC have exploring the vents?" Jack demanded as they started running

"So far, just one!" Kinsey told them.. "Far as I know he came back clean!"

Ten feet from the contaminated area, they were stopped by three people in bio-hazard suits. " Don't come any closer!" one of them, a woman, yelled through the mouthpiece. "I don't know was happening, but it's like nothing I've seen before."

Coming from people who had seen samples of Ebola, this was not encouraging. "What the fuck happened?" Jack demanded.

"Deakins was coming through the first sweep of the place, hadn't even gotten his suit off yet." the woman said. "His suit was covered with this blackish residue--- I thought it was soot. He didn't even take off the suit when... the soot liquefied somehow, and it started turning into... it looked like snakes or worms. And then they started moving towards his face and legs"

Even Doggett wasn't sure that he believed this. "These suits are contaminant proof," he began.

"You don't think I know that?" the doctor snapped. "It's like the virus went through the suit straight into Deakins as if it didn't exist. I don't know who designed this goddamn thing, but there are microcomputers that don't have the intelligence this thing does."

"All viruses are sentient," Smith told them. "This is far smarter than that."

"Who the hell is he?" the doctor asked.

"Look, Doctor, -um."

"Macer. Sunny Macer."

"Dr. Macer," Jack told them. "We need to get this man into isolation somehow."

"We don't know if we can do it without further risk of contamination." Dr. Macer replied.

Jack looked at Smith. "There is a vaccine for this virus, but there's no way we can get it from anyone," Smith told them. "Your best chance to stop the infection is to get the man's body temperature down. Going out into the heat may have caused the virus to activate."

Again Macer looked at Jack. ""Is this man credible?" she asked

"I can safely say that he knows more about the virus than any of us," Jack told them.

"We've got equipment to induce hypothermia on site," Macer told them. "What's the chance of the virus spreading from him to us?"

"The virus will remain in stasis for a few hours," Smith told them. "But I suggest you move him fast."

Jack's cell rang. "Bauer."

"Jack, it's Syd. We're on site."

**5:07:44**

**5:07:45**

**5:07:46**

"We've got confirmation the virus is here,." Jack told them, not wasting any time. "It's already infected someone who went through the vents. He wore protection and the virus went right through him. Nobody told us this thing was smart."

"It's managed to survive thousands of years in the earth's geological strata," Syd told him. "Makes sense that the thing has evolved a bit."

"How much did Mulder and Scully know about the virus?"

"Not as much as Smith would," Sydney replied. "But Scully's a doctor. She might be able to give us more definite terms."

"Contact CTU. Get her on the radio. I just saw three CDC doctors come close to panic; we need people who can remain rock steady."

Vaughn nodded. "I'll get Nadia on the phone. And I'll have Edgar get the video feed off the security cameras."

Sydney got back on the phone. "We're on the first level," she told him. "The one where Amtrak operates out of. If these people are serious about this attack, my guess is that this would be a pretty good place to call collateral damage."

"Have the people from Homeland checked the ventilation?"

"Jack, we warned the local transit authorities, not interstate," Sydney reminded him. "They're still trying to stop trains from coming in.. Fuck, this level isn't even completely evacuated. This could be one of their secondary protocols."

"This virus could be going live any minute," Jack reminded them. "And according to Smith, the only way to neutralize it when it goes hot is a vaccine we don't have."

Vaughn came over with the radio.. "They're on," he told them.

"Dr. Scully, have you been updated on what's going on?" Jack asked.

"We all have," Scully replied.. "And right now, I think you're best bet is the turn the AC on it and makes sure the vents are as cold as you can make them. It's the only way that we've got to slow it down."

"That buys us time. How do we stop it?" Vaughn asked.

"Where have your heads been?" Mulder told them. "We've already told you. You can keep it inactive; you can't stop it completely. All you can do is delay so you can complete evacuate the station."

"And then what, we burn the place to the ground and salt the earth?" Sydney asked.

"Agent Bristow, it's like we told you earlier," Mulder told them. "We've been dealing with variations on the is problem for more than a decade. This isn't a virus, it's an alien consciousness. And it will not stop until it infects everyone in that station."

"That's not entirely true."

"Mr. Smith?" Sydney was somewhat surprised. "Is there something that you haven't told us?"

"You're only partially right. The virus is sentient, but that does not make it unstoppable." Smith told them. "You 're also right about adjust the temperature. That will slow it down. Long enough for us to flush it out."

"Like I said, how? Mulder asked.

"We need to talk to the people that run the plumbing. Fast"

**5:13:04**

**5:13:05**

**5:13:06**

**5:13:07**

"You want us to do _what?"_

Even though she knew that Jack had his hands full, Nadia couldn't help but wish that he was handling this particular conversation, especially since she still didn't know which part of their reasoning he was following. "We are now certain that the chemical agent is inside the ventilation system.," she told the Homeland agent working with head of maintenance, "and the only way to get the virus out is to flood it, and push the virus out."

"There's no drainage inside the ducts," he told her. "And we don't have enough sprinkler. We're going to have to rely on outside plumbing Even if we fill the vents, the only 'out' that we have is inside the station itself. And we're still not fully evacuated."

"That virus is going to go hot any minute," she told him. "And it's already started to infect people. Now which levels of the station are still occupied.?"

"We've been trying to evacuate the station since the call came in," he told her. "I think we've blocked off the subway and local trains. But the out of state trains are still coming in. It's going to take at least half an hour before we know that all the traffic has been shut down. Now we managed to get all the workers and store owners, but we've still got at least a hundred commuters in the station uppermost level."

In the most cold-blooded sense, it might have been easier to just isolate Penn Station, and count the hundred or so people inside as collateral damage. But Nadia knew that from an incident with the Cordova virus in a hotel in LA a few years back that had essentially been shot the hell when a single man got out and nearly infected half of the city. Containment had been nothing short of a miracle. And in a city which relied on mass transit a lot more than Los Angeles did, the possibilities were far more deadly.

"Get the lower level station empty," Nadia finally told them. "Clear it out from end to end. While you're doing that find somebody to adjust the plumbing. Start breaking pipes if you have to. Just get it done."

"All right," the officer said. "But you'd better have a plan for when whatever it is gets out of the plumbing. I'm not going to be responsible for getting this stuff into the water supply."

Just then her radio started to buzz. "What?" she shouted.

"Don't yell at me," Sydney told her. "I didn't place the virus."

."Where are you?" Nadia asked.

"I'm doing another sweep of the place, trying to evacuate the first level."

"Why didn't you just tell me what else you're looking for?" .

"All three of the people on the inside said that the conspiracy wouldn't be foolish enough to put one of their own men behind to make sure things go off as planned," Sydney told her. "But I don't trust two of them, and I don't think these people cared much for the value of life to begin with. "

"So what, you're going to search the place inch by inch? This could happen any minute."

"Which is why I have to find him," Sydney countered. "Fast."

"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Nadia countered.

"These people haven't exactly been subtle so far," Sydney argued. "I think I'll find a sign soon enough."

**5:19:35**

**5:19:36**

**5:19:37**

Edgar walked up to Nadia. "We've got the security cameras finally working," he told her.

"We were supposed to have those fifteen minutes ago," she snapped.

"Hey, I've also been coordinating with the fire and NYPD for evacuation protocols, getting the list of possible suspects down to our agents, and keeping the mayor and the governor happy," he said coolly. "I'm not your friends from LA. I'm not a superman."

Fortunately, Mulder walked up to them, abbreviating the conflict.. "Where exactly is the video feed for the first level? Isn't that where we expect most of the trouble?"

"I'll bring it up," Edgar told them, and walked over to the station on the ground level where Mulder and Scully were camped out.. "What are we looking for?"

"I haven't a clue," Mulder sounded way too cheerful for Nadia's taste. "But I also have a feeling that we'll all know when we see it."

"Fine," Nadia got on her radio. "Syd, where are you?"

"Easternmost side of level one," Sydney told them. "Grid B."

"Bringing up the camera," Edgar pushed some buttons. He brought up a bathroom, and a chain of a pretzel maker. " Syd, confirm that this area is clear."

"Copy," There was a pause as Sidney entered the edge of the screen, and began ho search it.

"Agent Dunham, begin the search of Grid C." Nadia continued to call out grids and the names of other agents to search.

Before she got to Vaughn's Mulder spoke up. "Which grid is this?" he asked, pointing to the fifth monitor.

"Grid F," Nadia told him.

"Um, Edgar, was it?" Mulder said with a little bit of awkwardness. "Could you zoom in on the far left side of the monitor?"

Edgar looked at Nadia., who nodded. Reluctantly, he began to push a couple of keys. The cleft side of the filled the screen. Three garbage cans moved to the center.

"Can you get any closer?"

Edgar now looked at Mulder with suspicion. "These cameras are a year out of date. I was lucky I was able to zoom in that close," he said snarkily.

"All right, Vaughn," Nadia said over the radio. "Check out Grid F."

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"The middle trash can," Mulder told them. "The one with the, ketchup nearest the bottom."

A sinking feeling hit Nadia. And Vaughn clearly had an idea what he was going to see before he looked inside.

"Ah, shit!" he shouted. "Someone, shoved a security guard in there! Looks like he had to break him in half in order to do it!"

Nadia whirled around. "Let me guess. This is the work of another one of your alien friends."

"We're acquaintances, but believe me, the pleasure is all his," Mulder told them.

""I thought Syd killed this fucking alien!"

"She killed _a _fucking alien," Mulder reminded him. "For all we know, there's a mini-colony in the station."

"Do you really believe that?" Vaughn asked.

"No," Mulder admitted. "With these people, one is far more than enough."

"Have you finished the evacuation?" Nadia demanded.

"We're just getting the last group out of here."

"We need to widen the parameters of the search. Whoever's behind this, there is an alien on site making sure that everything goes according to plan!" Nadia turned to Mulder. "Check the security tapes."

"That won't help us," Sydney told them. "These creatures can look like anybody they want."

Nadia actually paled for a moment. "You're telling us that this fucker could be anywhere?"

"Or anyone."

Over the radio, the voice of Agent Dunham said, "What sort of freak show is this that some guy can just shape shift?"

**5:25:11**

**5:25:12**

**5:25:13**

**5:25:14**

**"**The place is empty?" Jack asked.

"They've managed to divert all trains for the next half-hour, and we just cleared out the last of the passerby," Nadia told him. "Of course, for all we know, we just let the guy responsible for the virus out the front door too."

Jack looked over at Jeremiah Smith. "Doggett tells me that Smith has some kind of beacon in his head that lets him know when a fellow alien's nearby," he told her. "His radar didn't seem to go off when we got here."

"Maybe the presence of the virus was a distraction," Nadia paused. "Honestly, Jack you ever think we'd be using these words in a conversation?"

"Not when I got up this morning." Jack admitted. "Ask me several years ago about giant red balls and Rimbaldi, I would have given you the same answer. Have Sydney and Vaughn finished the sweep of the first level?"

"They're going through the place inch by inch," Nadia told him. "Have they had any luck with the Patient Zero?"

"They're working on it, but it'll be hours before we can tell if his condition changes one way or another, "Jack told her

Nadia hesitated, then asked the question. "Jack, does this feel right to you?"

"Which part?"

"Let's take out the extra-terrestrial part and try and look at this like it's any other kind of attack," she began. "We're on the scene, we empty out the target area, we find some of the chemical agent. Does the enemy just shrug and head back home?"

"Not if home is several galaxies over," Jack told her. "But I do see your point. There's obviously some kind of backup plan. Otherwise, why kill a member of the security detail---"

The idea hit them simultaneously.. "Where did you evacuate the commuters?" Nadia demanded.

"We spread them out through the larger offices around the area!" Jack told them.

"And the biggest complex on the scene is the Post Office!," Nadia astold them.

"Maybe, but there are thousands of people spread over a dozen buildings. They wouldn't have to try that hard to have a high casualty."

jack got on the radio. "Sydney, Vaughn pick-up.!"

"I'm here," Sydney said. "What happened?"

"Are either of you near the security guard they killed?" Nadia asked.

"I'm less than ten feet away." Vaughn told them.

"Get a picture of him, and make sure that every CTU agent we have here has it" Jack told him. "He might have shifted identities, but if he killed that guard he probably did it for a reason."

Vaughn and Sydney both got it "How sure are we that he's working alone?" Sydney told him. "For all we know, he could still have another man on the inside. This is exactly where they'd use him."

"Hold on," Nadia ran over to Edgar. "You have a listing for all the agents who are on site?" she demanded.

"No, but they should've filed with the field office. It shouldn't be that hard to get it," Edgar told them.

"I need you to go through the agent's names, and see if you can find any outside link --- particularly connections with the FBI. Look for anybody suspicious, and find out where they are right now," Nadia told Edgar hurriedly. "The priority is the Post Office!"

**5:30:46**

**5:30:47**

**5:30:48**

The man in the blue business suit had been looking extra pissed for the last five minutes, and now he walked up to the policeman. "I demand to know what the hell is going on here!"

"Sir, I realize that this has been exceptionally frustrating, but there is some very important going on---" the policeman began.

"I'll tell you what's important!" the man in the business suit interjected.. "I have a teleconference with nine of the largest bond traders in the world scheduled for eight o'clock tonight! Now these are powerful men, officer. Men who would look at men like your boss and regard him as gum on your shoe."

The businessman hadn't been that quiet to begin with, and now he was starting to stir up the crowd around them. Realizing that a potential riot of the nine to fivers in what was, after all, a government building, would be as messy as an actual chemical attack, the NYPD called in for some reinforcements.

"We're still in the middle of a hot zone," one of the CTU agents reminded them

"The area's been cleared," one of the cops countered. "And I'm more worried about a possibility of an actual riot then some half-assed chemical attack."

The argument that one of their own was infected, possibly dying, from this purported biological threat would have shut them up, but it was never made. "All right, get another three or four cops in here," a ranking agent said..

"We haven't gotten orders from either Bauer or Santos---"

"They're not on the scene. We are. Get the men in blue here."

Reluctantly, an agent gave the okay. The second it was given, the reporting agent switched his radio to a channel the other agency wasn't set to receive. "The ants are all in the hill," he reported. "Time to set it on fire."

On the second level of the Post Office, the false security guard (who had taken the credentials from the dead one before he had stuffed the body in the garbage) stepped away from the air- conditioning vent where he had placed the last of three rocks with the virus. The man on the inside had turned off the AC ten minutes ago, which would not only accelerate the virus' emergence, but also make the people downstairs more unruly, and therefore less likely to notice anyone suspicious until it was too late. It wouldn't have the same casualty rate as Penn Station, but it would go along way towards starting a mass panic.

And the more chaos and destruction they sowed, the easier thing s would be when they followed through with the rest of the plan.

"We've been going through the agents on file as fast as we can," Nadia told her husband. "But without something solid, we can't even speculate."

"You've got Mulder, Scully and Reyes going over the files?" Jack asked.

They're trying but, as they were more than willing to tell us, they didn't have a lot more luck in spotting traitors until it was too late then any of us were," Nadia told them grimly.

"Wonderful," Jack turned from the monitor. "Agent Doggett, any luck?"

"When are you going to admit we're just spinning our wheels here?" DOggett said as he looked at another screen.

"We'll search area building by building if we have to. It'll be a long shot, but---"

"Holy Christ. " Doggett's voice had dropped so low that Jack was concerned. "The last file that you sent to me; send a copy to Monica. Now!"

There was the briefest of pauses before Agent Reyes spoke. "That's not possible," she almost whispered.

"I thought we had a moratorium on that," Mulder told them.

But Doggett wasn't laughing. "He's not supposed to be out! Fuck, he's supposed to be in prison!"

"Who?" Jack demanded.

"One of the agents working for Homeland used to be with the Bureau.," Doggett told Jack. "Assistant Director Brad Follmer was a major pain in the ass for Monica and I the year we worked the X-Files . About a month before we were shut down, he was implicated in corruption charges and killed the man who was bribing him."

"You're sure of this?" Jack asked.

"I saw him kill the man," There was definitely some private pain behind Agent Doggett's eyes, but Jack decided to let it go for the moment. "Last I heard he'd been stripped of his title."

"Apparently not far enough," Nadia told them. "He was suspended for two years and placed under house arrest for that time. Bureau didn't want anything to do with him, but he still had some friends in the government."

"But that doesn't mean---" Monica seemed flabbergasted as well. "Brad did some horrible things, but I can't see him committed this kind of treason."

Jack looked at Doggett. "I'm sorry, Monica," he finally said, "but there are some coincidences even I don't believe."

"It gets worse," Nadia told them. "According to the computer, Follmer was assigned to the Post Office."

"Edgar, text the photo to Sydney and Vaughn. Now!"

**5:38:47**

**5:38:48**

**5:38:49**

**5:38:50**

Outside the temperature was still that of late spring, pleasant, barely out of the seventies. However, it was also the time of year when people automatically turned on their air conditioners. So when Sydney walked into the 35th Street Post Office, and felt like it was hotter inside than it was outside, she automatically became suspicious.

By now she was off the radio, and was using one of the earpieces. "Vaughn, you see anybody who looks like they're in charge?" she asked.

"I believe right now that's us," Vaughn reminded her. "Which reminds me, let's keep this a private conversation."

At that moment, Syd's cellbuzzed. She took it out, and saw a text from Nadia. _'Believe he's our guy_.' Touching the screen brought up the picture of a man with brownish-blond hair and a slight mustache. "You get this?" she asked Vaughn.

"Any sign of him?" she asked.

"If he really is part of this, logic says he'd be long gone," Vaughn reminded her.

"How big a role has logic ever played in our jobs?" Sydney countered.

Considering that they were in large room crowded three and four deep with people, most of whom looked extremely pissed off, Sydney didn't think that this was going to be easy The sight of her ID wasn't helping nearly as much as it should have. Still, she looked carefully.

."Shouldn't we be evacuating ?" Vaughn asked.

"We've done that. That's why we're in this mess," Sydney told her husband. "Besides, we've basically run out of places to put people."

Ten steps later she ran into a man in a suit giving instructions to two police. When he turned to face her, Sydney could tell it was Agent Follmer. She kept her face perfectly blank.

"You're supervising?" she asked casually.

"We've been here for nearly an hour, and we still have no idea what were up against," he told her. "Someone had to step up. I'm Agent Follmer with Homeland."

"Agent Bristow," she replied.

"So you're in charge. Maybe now you can tell me why we had to clear out the biggest transit hub in the city for no apparent reason."

"We have a reason, Agent Follmer," Sydney told them, "but we now believe the terrorists involved had shifted their attack."

'That was awfully farsighted of them," Follmer replied.. "And I assume by the way you're breathing down my neck, you think this is the target."

"We are packed a little think," Sydney looked at Follmer. "Have you seen anyone suspicious?"

"You people have been so vague, I don't know what suspicious looks like. Would you mind telling me what exactly the enemy is?"

He was good, but Sydney had dealt with better. "We're still trying to figure that out," she said slowly.

"You speak as if I don't know who you are," Follmer said. "What monsters are tracking us? The ghost of Irina Derveko? Genetic clones? Something a little," he deliberately hesitated, "out of this world?"

"I'll let you know" Sydney touched her earpiece. "Vaughn, are we getting anywhere?"

By now Vaughn was on the uppermost level of the post office., checking the vents. "I don't know, but it's awfully goddamn hot in here," he muttered. "Where' the fuck is the thermostat..."

H e stopped mid-sentence, because he had just seen someone he was pretty sure that his wife had killed less than three hours ago. He pulled his weapon, and was a bout to fire, when the creature yanked the vent that he had just examined off the wall.

"Syd, we're in trouble---"

She had taken her attention off Follmer for less than five seconds, but it was long enough to draw his weapon. "I think the time for playing games is over," he told her.

"Killing me won't get you out of here," Sydney told him smoothly

"You now, you're absolutely right."

And then before Sydney could react, Follmer fired his gun in the air three times. Even with the crowds, the sound resonated throughout the building. The result was instantaneous--- people began to fly around in panic In seconds,

Before Sydney could blink, Follmer was gone.

**5:45:22**

**5:46:23**

**5:46:24**

Jack and Doggett had made it over to the Post Office, and had begun leading a search for Follmer , when all hell broke loose. They also knew that if the virus was out, they would have almost no chance of containing it among this chaos.

"Your years of training ever g teach you how to stop a riot?" "Doggett yelled.

"This is Agent Bauer!" Jack yelled. "We need every available man to assume positions around the post office. Bring all riot gears and mask!" He switched frequencies. "Syd, Vaughn, somebody in there talk to me!"

All of those years of meeting in crowded nightclubs that almost invariably resulted in mob scenes finally repaid their value ; Sydney managed to maneuver around the panicked throng like she was a quarterback eluding a defensive line.

Sydney was just as concerned about the panic as Jack was, but knew one cardinal rule--- the only way to stop people thrown into panic inside was to throw them into a bigger panic if they go outside. She had an idea of how to do that, but it involved her getting upstairs and hope that this same panic affected their friends

As it turned out, she got a bit of luck, though she was pretty sure that it wouldn't qualify as such by anyone higher up. Less than ten seconds after she started, a large _BOOM _echoed through the arches as the alien that looked exactly like the one she'd killed before (_They do all look a like_, went crazily through her mind) with a perfect three point landing. He had also managed to crush two people doing so, but it was pretty clear that was the least of his concerns.

"Stay where you are!" Sydney was pretty sure warnings wouldn't still this monster, but she had to at least pretend this was normal.

The alien looked surprised that she didn't even blink as his landing, or that she had some idea of what he was—otherwise why would she be aiming for him? "You are a fool."

"Maybe," Sydney told him, "but I'm a quick study!"

"Indeed." The alien took a step forward.

"This place is surrounded. We cordoned off Penn Station," she told him. "This operation is a failure."

The alien cocked its head. ""We have different considerations for success," the alien told her. "Besides, even if this plan fails, we have far more in store. Attacks that no one will be able to resist. We _will _succeed."

Sydney knew that this creature held the keys to this entire conspiracy, and that those were only the start of their knowledge. But she also knew that this place was going to become a hot zone in seconds, if that, and she had to whatever she could to limit the damage.

The alien charged her, intending to roll over her like an Abrams tank on the LA freeway. Sydney didn't even blink, and fired one shot into the eye, hoping that the impact—or the dented bullet—would blind the alien a moment. She dropped to one side, an arm out to absorb the impact. She stick one leg up in the air so that her legs were at a ninety degree angle.

The alien, distracted by the noise and commotion around them, not to mention confused by the sudden move on Sydney's part, almost ran into her leg—it wouldn't have tripped him, but it would have broken her leg if she had held it straight and stiff. Instead, she went with the impact of his leg, sweeping her other leg behind his knee, collapsing the leg from under him, and then rolled, twirling the leg up like spaghetti with her legs as the folk tines. He landed with one side of his face on the ground...facing away from Sydney.

"Shame you'll never see it," she said, and fired three shots at the back of the alien's head from the neck up.

The first one blew out a chunk of his skull, and the second one nearly tore his head from his neck. She rolled away and fired the last shot....and never saw what the third one did, because a split second later, the creature was gone, and there was a huge pile of green acid falling to the ground.

She wasn't sure if it was the acid or the second round of shots, but something produced a ripple, and suddenly every body had stopped running.

"What the fuck?" Sydney turned around, and saw that Jack and Agent Doggett had arrived.

"What the hell is going on?" one of the suits yelled...

"Ladies and gentlemen, I realize that you're all very frightened, and confused," she told them. "The fact is we believe that they're has been some kind of chemical agent on the premises that terrorists were planning to release. We have the situation under control, but it can only be resolved if everybody slowly and orderly evacuates the building., if you would just follow the agents at the front, everything will be fine."

By now, everyone was so concerned that they left with a minimum of fuss. Jack actually looked more agitated than Sydney. "Are you trying to start a new kind of crisis?" he whispered angrily.

"I don't know. Would you like the people of this city to know that this was the first strike of an alien attack?" Sydney whispered.

"It's New York. Most of them wouldn't blink at the idea," Jack replied.

"I think Agent Bristow has a point," Doggett replied. "The President gave us a specific set of instruction. We need to follow them. Or would you like to see a recreation of Halloween 1938?"

Jack couldn't ague with the logic. "We need to get everybody out of here," he said. "Where's Vaughn?"

"I'll get him," Sydney walked up the stairs, trying to raise her husband on the radio. "Come on, everybody---"

When she reached the landing, she froze. Her husband was lying on the ground, impaled n a piece of a ventilation shaft, eyes blinking, and trying to scream.

""I need--- " she sputtered. "Jack, I need a medic!

**5:54:06**

**5:54:07**

**5:54:08**

**5:54:09**

The medic looked up. "It's as bad as it looks," he told Sydney bluntly. I don't know which vital organs have been punctured, but I'm certain that the pressure from this shrapnel is the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. We move him, he dies."

"And if we don't move him?" Jack asked..

"He'll die from shock . Most he has is an hour."

The AC had been turned back on, and the virus was in stasis for the moment, but it could come oozing out any minute. Nevertheless, Jack knew far better than to try and push Sydney.

"There is another way." Jack hadn't even heard Jeremiah Smith approach. "But in order for this to work, Michael needs to be removed from the spike.

Sydney seemed to come out of the shock that she was in. "But, that'll kill him."

"No, Agent Bristow," Smith told her. "It won't."" For the first time, there was kindness mixed in with the certainty in his voice.

"Syd, I don't think this is a good idea---"

"Let him," Doggett interrupted.

Jack looked at Sydney, who managed to nod. "Take him off the spike."

The medic nodded reluctantly, and very gently the team began to remove Vaughn from the shrapnel. Just as they'd predicted, the blood began shooting out of the wound instantly. Vaughn's eyes rolled to the side of his head that same instant.

"Stand aside," Smith ordered, and knelt by Vaughn, ignoring the blood spurting up at him. He put his hand over the wound and closed his eyes.

Not even what Jack had seen happen to Sloane quit prepared him for what happened next. The blood spurting out began to flow backwards, while the stain itself began to shrink. Within the space of half a minute, the blood was gone. Within the space of a minute, there was no wound at all., only a hole in his shirt to marked where the shrapnel had been

A few moments later, Vaughn was conscious, coughing loudly. Hardly daring to believe what she had just seen, Syd looked at her husband. "Michael?" she whispered.

"S- Syd?" Vaughn was barely audible, but it was definitely there.

Finally, Sydney breathed and began to weep.

"The orders are from Homeland. Mr. Strughold is to be taken into custody now!" the agent told him.

"Jack Bauer's orders were that no one touches that man without his approval," the other agent said.

The suit shook his head.. "I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up."

Five seconds later, gunshots filled the air

Despite the magnitude of what he'd seen, the moment Jack heard the shots, he was back to business. "What the hell?" he yelled over the radio. "All units, report!"

Having completed his task, Brad Follmer took apart his rifle, and began to leave the building. As he did, he speeddialed a number on his phone.

"Yes?"

"Strughold's been taken care of.," Follmer told them. "What do you want us to do with Covarrubias?"

"Hold on to her for the moment," the voice on the other end said. "We need to find out what else she knows about the rest of our people."

"What's the next step, Henderson?"

"Now that they've failed, we take over the operation," Christopher Henderson told the former Assistant Director. "Now we show them to never send an alien to do a man's job."

**5:59:57**

**5:59:58**

**5:59:59**

**6:00:00**


	11. 6:00 PM TO 7:00 PM

**Chapter 10**

**The Following Takes Place Between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.**

Sydney was not clingy, but given what had just happened, she was extremely reluctant to leave her husband's side. But her senses had not been entirely dulled, and she had an idea that something pretty awful had just happened.. Still, she waited until Agent Doggett had returned before she asked: "I heard shots fired. Do we have a problem?"

"Yeah, and it's a big mother," Doggett told her. "Jack is still talking things over with Homeland, but I think that Gunther Strughold and the people who were guarding him have been executed."

"How the fuck did that happen?" Sydney asked. "I thought you had him secured."

"We did," Doggett replied. "Which leads me to think that Brad Follmer had something to do with it."

"Who _is _ this guy and how did he get past our security?" Sydney demanded.

"Follmer's ex-FBI," Doggett responded. "He held a supervisory position in the Bureau for a couple of years before he was drummed out for blackmail and murder."

"So what are we thinking, the conspiracy just snatched him up?" Sydney asked.

"Follmer was a prick, but he never struck me as the treasonous type," Doggett said shaking his head. "But a lot can change in seven years. Then again, I have been out of the loop."

Sydney was about to try and offer some false words of encouragement--- when her radio buzzed. "Sydney, we've got another problem."

"Doggett already told me about Strughold," Sydney replied.

"It's worse than that"

_When it rains.. _ "What now?" Sydney asked.

"I just talked to the agents that took had Covarrubias. According to them, about ten minutes ago, someone representing the Bureau took possession of her."

"But Vaughn and I made sure that nobody outside of the three of us was allowed to have custody of this woman," Sydney replied.

"They're well aware of that. The problem is, whoever took possession of her used a higher clearance code than you or I have. They also had authorization from someone from the FBI and the UN."

"The conspiracy's rattling sabers again?" Sydney asked. "So what, we thinking that they took her away to kill her to?"

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "They were pretty upfront of taking out Strughold, but if they went to this much trouble to take Covarrubias back, she must have some information that they thought would hurt them. And if they didn't leave her dead body on the ground, then I think she's still alive."

Doggett, who had been listening to this back and forth for a bit, finally spoke up. "The only way they could've gotten that info from the Bureau is if they had a man on the inside," he told them. "That kind of sets up a blinking arrow in front of Mr. Follmer, doesn't it?"

"I think Doggett's right," Sydney told them. "The question is how hard do we look for her now that the immediate crisis has passed? I mean, even though we've lost Strughold, we do have other options"

"How long has it been since we checked in with Marshall?" Jack asked.

"Couple of hours," Jack admitted. "But even given his workload, he should have the entire datafile translated and converted to binary by now."

"Get him on the line," Sydney told him. "Does Nadia know what's going on?"

"By now, she should have been fully alerted."

"That building that you set on fire three hours ago," Sydney told them, "I think now is a good to time to go sifting through the rubble. When I was getting Mulder out, there was definitely information there that we could use. Maybe even tell us who the fuck is behind this mess."

"I'll tell Nadia to send a team."

"Send Mulder," Sydney added. "He knew a lot more about that place than we did, and this is his equivalent of a wet dream. He'll be sure to absorb every detail we miss."

"What are we going to do?" Jack asked.

"We're going to find Brad Follmer.," Sydney told him. "The son of a bitch has stolen from me, and I want my property back, even if I am going to kill her myself."

Jack arched a brow. She was starting to pick up the less savory elements of his personality. "All right, I'll have security start working on the cameras, see if we can pick up his trail that way. I'll also contact Homeland, CTU and FBI to put together a profile on this guy."

Doggett heard this. "If you want to get the inside dirt on Follmer, I think we're gonna need Monica's help."

"And how does Agent Reyes know Follmer?"

Doggett, normally forthright, hesitated. "Because several years ago, she had an affair with him. When he came back to our attention, he tried to pick up where he left off."

"Has she had any recent contact with him?" Jack asked.

"No," Doggett asked. "But she'll draw a better profile than anyone we can get at Quantico I wouldn't even bring this up, if I didn't think it would be our best bet.."

"All right," Sydney told him. She turned to her husband, who was finding his feet. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You're going to need help," said Vaughn.

"Right now, I want you to take Mr. Smith here back to CTU, and have him start working with Marshall to figure out where the next target might be."

"Syd, I don't need to be babied---"

"If we can't find Covarrubias or Follmer," Jack snapped at him, "that means Smith is our only remaining lead. We need him safe , and you're the best man for the job." Bauer glanced at his brother in law. "If you think for a moment that your own wife would act the slightest bit less professional just because you were wounded, you should both get a divorce!"

Syd and Vaughn gaped at Jack a moment, then Michael blinked, shook his head, dismissed it as a bad waking dream, and said, "I guess I do owe him at least a ride home for saving my life." Vaughn turned to the alien. "Come on, Mr. Smith. I've got a sinking feeling today's horrors are not over."

**6:08:34/**

**6:08:35/**

**6:08:36**

"What condition is Penn Station in?" Mike Novick asked Nadia.

"Whatever virus our... unknown assailant used is being held in stasis," Nadia told the assembled group "Our attempts to remove it have led to the infection of at least two CDC workers. They're working in conjunction with our people at the Bureau to figure out how to neutralize it, but for the immediate future we're going to have consider Penn Station and the Post Office nearby as hot zones."

"Have there been in any civilian casualties?" the President asked.

"Some civilians were injured during the panic in the Post Office," Nadia informed them. "but we don't seem to have had any fatalities. I believe we've been extremely lucky, sir."

"Are we any clearer as to who are the people behind this?"" Mike asked.

"Not at the present time," Nadia admitted.

"So, other than the possibility that was the first strike in a possible alien invasion," President Palmer asked., "you can 't tell us who was responsible for the attack, or if they will strike again. And I can't tell the Mayor or half the Congressmen who've been haranguing me for the last hour what the hell I just ordered one of the major transit hubs of the East Coast indefinitely closed.." The President looked ahead. "I want answers, Agent Santos; how close are we to getting them?"

"I'm in the process of ordering a raid on a location that we believe is the equivalent of a cell for these terrorists," Nadia asked.

"That wouldn't be the same address that Jack blew half to hell for reasons that he hasn't deigned to give to anybody yet?" Mike replied. "Because I've been getting an avalanche of complaints from every government agency telling me that you've violating an essential government building."

Fox Mulder had been quiet through this conversation, but now he spoke up. "Any of them happen to give you a reason why this particular building is vital to our nation's security?"

"They claim that it contains material vital to America's financial and governmental infrastructure," Mike countered.

"Really?" Mulder asked sardonically. "Mr. President, had you or anybody in your inner circle know of this safehouse until this afternoon?"

"The government doesn't work that way, Mr. Mulder," an increasingly irritated Mike replied. "It's not uncommon for the left hand to not know what the right hand is doing."

"I'd prefer to hear _the President's_ answer," Mulder countered. He did his best impersonation of a Jack Bauer glare... which didn't really work for him. "Unless you've been promoted and no one told the country."

"No," President Palmer replied, cutting off further banter. "And considering I'm in year one of my second term, I find that more than a little suspicious myself."

At that moment Lynn Kresge, who had been on a conference call, reentered the room. "Sir, I realize this is important,, but I've just received a call from Senator Logan."

"And what does the junior senator from California have to say about what's happening here?" Mike replied.

"He says he represents a group of Congressmen demanding answers for some of the actions the government has taken over the past few hours," Lynn replied as neutrally as she could manage "and unless they start getting answers, they will go to the press."

"I need to handle this," the President said resignedly. "Agent Santos, order a team to search the building, but try to do it with more delicacy than you did last time. I'll give you some cover. Just don't make me regret it."

"Yes sir," Nadia turned to Mulder. "Sydney and Jack are busy leading the search for Covarrubias They've asked Agent Reyes to assist.. At the moment, half of my team leaders are in the field, and I can't afford to spread myself to thin."

"There a point to this?" Mulder asked.

"Sydney and I both want you to run point on the search o the Syndicate's supposed headquarters," she told him. "Now considering what happened four hours ago, I'm a little reluctant. But we need someone there who will turn over every rock to find what we need, and we think you're the guy for it."

Mulder considered this. "You got a place to get suited up? Maybe with one of those Hummers Agent Bauer drove earlier?"

"We'll get you equipped. But you need to get moving.," Nadia paused. "There's a very good chance you were right about at least some of what you've been spinning, which is why there can't be any screw-ups in this operation."

"I'll run it like it was my own," Mulder said as he walked off.

"That's what has everyone worried," Nadia sad to his back.

.

**6:15:14/**

**6:15:15/**

**6:15:16/**

**6:15:17 **

"We directed almost every active camera on to Penn Station, and it's surrounding areas," Agent Dunham was telling Jack.. "The last place that we were concerned with were the areas where we had secured our prisoner."

"What about the agents that picked Covarrubias up?" Jack demanded. "

"I've got descriptions out to every agency in the state," Dunham told them.

"Let's not waste our time on that," Sydney replied, walking up to Jack. "Whoever's behind this is pretty clever. They'll know better than to make sure then to come up for air anywhere remotely important.""

"I know, but we have to prepare for anything."

"I'm surprised that you didn't follow up on the tracking device already," Sydney told him "Before you sent Covarrubias into that Consortium hot spot, you injected her with a radioactive dye to track her movements. Remember?"

Jack nodded. "And I put it into the CTU's monitoring system—this is in case these people manage to somehow disarm even _that._"

"I just checked with Edgar," Sydney told them. "It's fine, and she's at 43rd Street heading east," Sydney told him. "You leave now, you can probably catch up with her in less than fifteen minutes."

"Wait a minute. Aren't you coming with me?"

"I've got a different lead to follow up," Sydney explained "When you and Agent Doggett originally took Covarrubias into custody, you took a cell off her, but you didn't bother to back trace any of the numbers."

"We were still running down her current leads relating to the present crisis," Jack told her. "And then we were treating the diplomat as a cooperating, albeit hostile, witness We didn't need the information on the phone then. Besides, when I had Edgar run a back-trace on it, he said that it was encrypted, and we needed him on other things."

"Yeah, and we still will," Sydney mused. "Marshall could probably do it without breaking a sweat, but right now whatever's on that datafile needs to remain a priority." She paused.

"You haven't called her yet?" Jack said with a certain mix of amusement.

"I figured with all the shit that's been going down DC's going to be even busier than we are," She replied. "But you're right. We need their help, and we're running a little short on manpower by now."

"Make the call," Jack said. "I'll pick up Agent Doggett, see if we can run whoever's got Covarrubias to ground."

Sydney took out her cell, and began to dial from memory. "I just hope she doesn't give me too much grief."

_DIVISION HEADQYARTERS_

_CTU DC_

"What you mean there's no evidence of terrorist chatter?" Director Thompson demanded.

"I mean, it's been dead quiet for the last hour,"" Chloe O'Brian told her boss. "Maybe the terrorists all thought they'd created enough havoc and on their way to Cabo."

"They raise the terror level alert in New York three hours ago, says there's a major chemical weapons attack on a major transit hub, but refuse to give any details about who or why, the President still hasn't made any comment about what happened here earlier, and we don't know why is it that our that the entire terror community seems to have gone quiet?" Thompson turned around. "Division's on our ass already, people. Let's at least pretend we know what we're doing."

At that moment Chloe's cell began ringing.. She checked the caller ID. "What the hell does she want?" she thought as she answered. "O'Brian."

"Chloe, this is Sydney."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "There've been three terror strikes in the last nine hours, Jack doesn't call, Nadia doesn't call, and I can't get more then two words out of anybody at New York.... so I can only guess that you're in the middle of it."

"The situation is very complicated," Sydney began.

"Are you only calling me because Marshall's retired?"

**6:21:02/**

**5:21:03/**

**6:21:04**

"It took a lot of work to interpret the Navajo in the file," Marshall told Vaughn. "The government files on it were never transferred to data when the Defense Department went digital, and this isn't the kind of code that can be easily translated from spoken word to written. And tracking down the code-talker that Mulder sent me to was not easy."

"Marshall," Vaughn gently said, "just tell us what you've finally managed to find."

"It' appears to be a list of times and places," Marshall told him. "But they don't seem to have any point of reference. Here's a sample. Boston 2865, Topeka 3311,, Amsterdam 4074. I'll send a complete list to CTU, but I couldn't begin to tell you what they mean."

"That's all you've been able to translate?" Vaughn asked him.

"That and a lot more of those long streams of numbers begin with the letters SEP," Marshall told him. "Now I've been running through this datafile that we got from the Social Security office with the fastest computer I can, but even by the most conservative estimate there are at least a hundred million figures here It could take months to isolate and identify anyone..

At this, Vaughn couldn't help but stare at Smith. _What the hell were they doing?" _Aloud, he asked another question. "Marita Covarrubias told us that the information in the datafile was linked to high probability targets, and that you would be able to provide us with a way to translate it, Is that true ?"

Smith looked up. "Perhaps," he said.

"You know considering that we saved your life, and that you promise your complete cooperation when we found you, you've been surprisingly unhelpful. "Vaughn said irritate.

"I saved your life, Agent Vaughn---"

"And my wife, and daughter are no doubt eternally grateful," Vaughn interrupted. "But unless you start giving us answers, and soon, I'm beginning to come around to Mulder's way of thinking that it was just a delay. So, for the love of God, would you please help?"

Smith hesitated for a moment, then went ahead. "All of the names that go with those identification numbers are on files spread through out the data of several government agencies . When the files went digital, several private agencies bought up the rights to them, all owned by the group of people you knew as the Consortium."

"Which companies?"

"I know of three," Smith told them. "Roush Biolabs, Strughold Mining, and Omnicron, a chemical engineering company," Smith told them. "The information I gathered is located in the files of those three company. You search through those files, you'll come up with a directory that puts names to numbers."

Vaughn spoke into the phone. "Marshall, did you get all that?"

"Um, yeah, but maybe it's just me, and I have been out of the loop for awhile, but I've never heard of any of these companies, much less seen them on any watchlist or any proof that these companies are anything---"

"Marshall, can you do this or not?" Vaughn cut to the chase.

"Yeah, I can do it, but I need something more than that," Marshall told them. "If these companies have these files, I seriously doubt they're listed under the final name 'Colonization' or whatever this is."

"It'll be listed under SEP1954," Smith told them. "Sometimes things aren't as complicated as they seem.

"That easy for you to say. You don't have to hack into these companies databases, and find a file that's probably buried so deep you couldn't find it with a telescope.."

"How long will this take Marshall?" Vaughn asked.

"I'll get back to you in half an hour." In Marshall speak, this was a pretty hard task.. "And even then I still won't be able to figure out what those other numbers mean."

"Then get to it," Vaughn said, rubbing the spot on his chest where there had been a gaping hole not thirty minutes ago. "I've got a feeling these people have a second act planned, and I really didn't like the first."

**6:27:40/**

**6:27:41/**

**6:27:42/**

**6:27:43**

"You do realize by asking me to do this, I'll get into a lot of trouble," Chloe told Sydney. "At this stage in my career, another trek to Fargo or Helena doesn't exactly fill me with warmth."

"Since when have you cared about your career?" Sydney asked.

"Hey, you're the one who's currently retired," Chloe told her.

"Relax, Chloe," Sydney assured her former friend. "I've already talked with Nadia. In the next few minutes, your boss is going to let you be CTU liaison with New York for the duration of this crisis."

"And just how long is this crisis going to last?" Chloe asked. "Until the mothership flies around the White House and blows it up, and we have to rely on Will Smith to save us.?"

"Look, I get that you were never part of the Fox Mulder bandwagon," Sydney told her, "but so far a lot of the information they've given us has panned out. Now if there is a Consortium behind what's happening today, we've got to stop them before they do whatever they have planned."

"Including ruling the galaxy," Chloe went on. Before Sydney could respond, she quickly added, "Transmit the data from the cell to the server number I give you. I'll begin the back-trace as soon as it gets there."

"Thank you," Sydney whispered, as she began to transmit the data "Get back to me when you think have something that'll help."

"Considering I've been out of the loop for the day so far----"

"All right, Chloe, you've made your point." Sydney was starting to get exasperated. "Pass the information on to _Nadia,_ she will know what to look for. Now, if you don't mind, I have business here that desperately needs to be taken care off."

She terminated the call and dialed another number.

"Monica Reyes."

"I'm at the rendezvous point," Sydney told them. "You have the addresses together?"

"Yes." There was a long pause. "Brad was there?"

"Yes.."

"And you're sure that he---"

"Follmer put a gun to my head. Those people I don't tend to forget.," Sydney told her bluntly.

There was another pause. "I'm in the Blue Chevy," she said. "Can you make me out?"

The sun was starting to dip below the horizon, giving a slight glare, but she could still see it. "Yeah," she replied.

"I spoke to some of my contacts at the Bureau," Monica told her. "Just goes to show you the kinds of thinking my colleagues have. The mess that they used to kick Mulder out of the Bureau was a made-up shitstorm. Agent Doggett saw Follmer kill a man who has just confessed to bribing Brad, and he managed to coast. Brad just was better at massaging people in authority that Mulder ever was."

"That's how he managed to stay active?" Sydney asked

"Apparently at his hearing, Follmer had several higher-ups testify for him. Including the late Deputy Director Kersh," Monica choked back a bitter laugh. "Guess that's one favor he wishes he could take back."

"But nobody knew that Follmer was involved in this?" Sydney asked.

"Agent Bristow, I know John thought I could be useful tracking him, but I hadn't talked to Brad since his sentence ended," Reyes told her. "He was a reminder of something I've tried to keep out of my mind."

"Agent Reyes, I realize that this is a road you'd rather not go down, but right now, he's our best chance----"

"You don't need to give me the speech." Reyes told him. "I talked to Miles Papazian at Homeland. He told me that Brad has been working undercover on and off for the last three years. Apparently, the agent in disgrace act can open a lot more doors with the wrong people."

"That covers a lot of ground," Sydney told her.

"In this case, the wrong people included a couple of militia groups who operate just outside the Canadian border."

"How does that help us?" Sydney asked.

"In the spring of 2002, Agent Doggett, Dana Scully and I were pulled into an investigation involving a UFO cult just outside the North Dakota border into Canada," Monica told her. "This group was built on the foundation of an upcoming alien invasion and Mulder was a prophet--- and not in a good way."

"And you think these are the people who got to Follmer?" Sydney asked.

"He knew all about the case, Went on record in our favor," Monica said simply. "Now, at the time we thought all the members of the cult perished in a fiery death."

"Alien attack?" Sydney asked, almost in jest.

"UFO took off and burned them alive," Monica told her. "Believe me, even the short version of this story takes on too much time. Point us, I found a man from the case file who is still alive. Because he spent a lot of time between the borders, Customs has him on their watch list. He has an address on 101st Street. "

"And you think that this group has something to do with this conspiracy?" Sydney sounded doubtful.

"There are some coincidences I don't believe in either," Reyes told her. "Besides, I may be rusty from seven years behind a desk, but I'm pretty sure this is how we catch the bad guys, even if you didn't work out of the basement."

Sydney couldn't argue with this. "What's the address?"

**6:36:19/**

**6:36:20/**

**6:36:21**

"How long have you had this place sealed off?" Mulder asked the agent on point.

"For the past two hours," the lead agent told him. "It's been a little hard to get a clear picture on the satellites because of the mess you'd left.

He fixed Mulder with a hard glance that he had learned to shrug off long before he had found the X-Files. "Believe or not, that part wasn't my idea," he tried to say with a tinge of humor.

"We've been using infrared and sonar to try a read on the inside," the head agent continued. "No activity for the last hour."

_Not encouraging _ Mulder thought, but did not say. "Get ready. I just need to check in with my commander," he told them.

The new tech they were using still gave him headaches. It took him several seconds. to get the right frequency on the radio. "Scully, you there?"

"Where else would I be, Mulder?" Scully continued to speak with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, which made sense because he was betting she was still getting over the news about her mother's illness before the madness had started. "Are you ready to go?"

"I finally have everything I've wanted to get a real chance at nailing these bastards," he told Scully. "So why do I have the feeling that I'm about to walk into a coal mine with a lighted match?"

"Because we've doing this for too long," she told him. "And we know how these people operate. Still, it's been less than three hours, and they've been under observation most of that time. They can't have made a clean escape this time."

"We're about to find out," Mulder said, as he got on his walkie-talkie. "On three, one... two... three!"

CTU used battering rams to break down the doors. They ran in, layered in bulletproof vests and helmets in order to protect themselves from every possible attack. They ran fast, and were clearly professional, but in less than thirty seconds, it became obvious that they were grossly over-prepared.

"Clear!" Mulder heard as he walked in through the same building he had entered with greater stealth just a few hours earlier.. Before, every door had been locked, guards had been running the halls; now, the doors were all open, and nobody, either in suits or with weapons was anywhere in sight.

"This place was filled to bursting less than three hours ago," Scully said as they continued their search. "How the hell did the get out that fast?"

Then it hit him. "Check the sub-basement, " Mulder ordered the agents around him. Wonder of wonders, they still listened to him--- probably because they were following Sydney's orders more than his.

Then he saw they hadn't wiped place that clean. "We have any data recovery agents here?" he yelled out. "Check the cameras, check every hard drive. They've probably wiped them, but they can't have been perfect this fast. "

As the agents began to move, Scully spoke into his earpiece. "We found where they went," she told him. "here's another exit leading out through the sewage system. More than large enough for a lot of people to fit through."

"Yeah, and they could get everything they spent almost half a century guarding out in a matter of hours?" Mulder replied. "Two words: Un-fucking-likely,"

"We weren't exactly subtle when we had Covarrubias come to their sanctuary," Scully reminded him. "Given what happened in Penn Station, they must have known the game was up."

"Then why not just blow the building?" Mulder asked. "God knows, they've done it before."

"Which is why I'm having the bomb squad go over every inch of the place."

"Mr. Mulder?" One of the younger agents ran up to him. "It doesn't look like there's anybody left in the place,:"

"This building is fifteen stories tall, and I know I didn't come here with an army of Flashes," Mulder told him, pissed.

"However, when we finished the sweep of the first floor, we did find this." He produced a key card. "All the locks in the place are password based., according to you."

Mulder wasn't sure where this was going. "That's right."

"Then why this kind of ID card?"

Mulder made another of his leaps. "To see they stuff they don't even show each other," he said to himself. "How long will it take you to get information off that card?"

"We'll have to run a digital scan on it first .See what kind of data is here."

"Send it to CTU's techs," Mulder ordered. "And tell them to make it a priority."

**6:44:46/**

**6:44:47/**

**6:44:48/**

**6:44:49**

"Edgar, they found a key card at the raid.," Nadia told the beleaguered tech. "Mulder wants you to decrypt it."

""I'm still trying to help Jack and Agent Doggett track down Covarrubias," Edgar told them. "I'm not Marshall. There are only so many balls I can have in the air at once."

"We're in the middle of a crisis, Edgar. Everybody's gotta flex their muscles here."

"Workout metaphors? Maybe not the best ones you can use." Edgar held up his hand. "I'll get to it as soon as I can."

As Nadia walked away, Edgar phone rang.. "Everybody wants to get into the act," he muttered as he picked up. "CTU, Edgar Stiles."

"Edgar? It's Leyla Harrison."

Edgar was surprised. He'd hadn't heard from the FBI agent since Mulder and Scully had departed from D.C.. "Leyla, this is a really bad time."

"Believe me, Edgar, this isn't a social call."

Now he was concerned.. "What's wrong?"

"Few hours back, I got a call from my immediate supervisor at the Bureau," Leyla began. "She reamed me out for the departing the building with unauthorized materials and showing them to people from another agency--- at least that's what it came down to when I decoded it. "

Edgar was confused. "But Agent Vaughn sent you to White House. How did she even find you?"

"That was my first clue that something was weird. But not wanted to set off any alarms, I decided to just leave. "Leyla paused. "But by the time I found my way back to my car, I was pretty sure that I was being followed."

"You think that maybe you're just getting some residual paranoia?" Edgar asked.

"I so wish that was the case. So I circled the mall once, and I spotted the same blue van following me. Oh, and here's the best part." She paused deliberately. "I'm pretty sure it has government plates."

.Now Edgar was worried. "What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"I don't know," Leyla admitted. "I'd ask you for some kind of security, but if they've gotten to the FBI I don't know if there's anyone in D.C. to trust."

Just then Edgar's computer beeped. They had just cordoned off the area where they though Covarrubias was. Jack was going to need it, and he was already distracted. Yet the thought of abandoning his friend filled him with equal dismay.

Then it hit him. "Leyla, I know someone who can help. You know Chloe O'Brian from CTU?" he asked.

"I've heard of her, but we've never met ," Leyla told him. "Why would she help me?"

"We worked in LA together. She owes me a favor." Edgar told her. "Keep circling around. In five minutes, I'll call you with a rendezvous point."

"Edgar, she's had less field experience than I have," Leyla asked. "Other than geek solidarity, how can she help?"

"Trust me," Edgar told her passionately "When the chips are down, you want Chloe in your corner."

**6:50:07/**

**6:50:08/**

**6:50:09**

"Are we still receiving?" Jack asked

"Signals still strong." Nadia told them.

They had tracked Covarrubias all the way down to 59th Street. Jack had called the NYPD and told them to set up a checkpoint three blocks away. They had managed to triangulate the signal, and combined with the satellites, and block by block, we're eliminating the possible vehicles that it could have come from. By the time they reached 62nd Street, they would have isolated the carrier, and pinned down who had the diplomat.

"What happens if we find the carrier, and by the time we get there, all we have is the body of Covarrubias.?" Doggett asked.

"Someone has been carrying her for at least the last half-hour," Jack told him. "They have to had a good reason. We'll back-trace the vehicle and see if we can find any further links to the conspiracy."

"You do realize what a long shot this is?" Doggett told them.

"How long have you been working for the government?" Jack asked, as they drove the next block. "You have to play out whatever leads come to us. And I'm pretty sure that Covarrubias has more answers if we push her right."

"I don't know," Doggett told him. "Maybe working with Mulder has rubbed off on me, but something about this just doesn't seem right."

Jack was inclined to agree, but he didn't want to show his lack of faith to Doggett yet. "Let's just play this out."

His radio buzzed. "Jack," Nadia's voice said. "we've got it. The signal is coming from a blue Camaro, heading east. We're trying to get the license numbers, but whoever it is has been careful."

"Hell, the last thing this people want is to be brought down by a speeding ticket." Doggett put forth.

"Tell the uniforms to hold back until the vehicle approaches the traffic light," Jack ordered. "We should be there in two minutes." He got off the radio. "Let's hope you're wrong."

The upgrade in the terror alert had meant that checkpoints were being set up all around New York City, so the barricade at 62nd Street was not out of the ordinary.

"We've just spotted vehicle Alpha," one of the policemen said into his radio. "The light turned red."

"Try not to set off any alarms," Nadia instructed. "Make it look routine."

As the police began searching the immediate cars ahead, Jack pulled up about eight car-lengths away, and he and Doggett got out of the vehicle. "Signal is still strong," Jack said as they got out.

As they approached the car from the rear, the police began to approach from the front. Unfortunately, the driver had realized their intentions, and hit the accelerator, and rammed right through the barricade

Fortunately, they had prepared for this and a hundred feet in front was a chain of spikes. Before the driver could even react, all four tires had been slashed, and he ran right into the rear of a police car.

_So much for being subtle _Jack thought as he yanked out his gun. "You are surrounded!" he shouted. "Step out of the vehicle, put your hands behind your head, and kneel to the ground!

There was a pretty long pause before the driver surprised him by opening the door and following his instructions. This didn't encourage Jack. Someone who was really committed to this cause would never have surrendered that easily.

"Keep your hands where we can see them!" Doggett shouted. "Who else is in the vehicle?"

The driver was so terrified that words failed him, so he merely shook his head vigorously. By now, the other cops had approached the car.

"There's no one in the back!" the cops replied.

"Pop the trunk," Jack ordered. "Who do you work for?'" he demanded of the driver. The driver didn't answer. Jack put the gun right to his head. "Who told you to drive this car?!"

"I'm just a driver!" the man shouted back in terror. "I work for Omnicron!"

Jack practically did a double take. "Who? How are they involved?"

"Agent Bauer!" Doggett shouted. "I hate to tell you this, but----" He reached inside the trunk, and removed a small, bloody piece of plastic. "Not as bad as finding a dead body, but still---"

Now Jack had a new focus for his anger. "What did you do with her?" he demanded. "How did you get the tracker out?"

"That's not the question to be asking," Doggett told him. "What did you do with the woman?"

"I don't know anything about a woman!" By now the driver looked like he was about to piss his pants. "I got called by my boss to make a pick up at Penn Station at 6. Then this guy runs up to me, tosses something in the trunk, tells me to get as far from Penn Station as possible, and takes off in the other direction."

"What did he look like?" Doggett demanded.

"Tall, dark blond hair, blond goatee."

"Follmer." Doggett told him. "And now we have to go all the way back downtown in order to find him."

"Maybe not," Jack told him. "I think I may know another of the men behind the mask."

"How is that even possible?" Doggett asked.

"This man says he works for Omnicron," Jack told him. "The CEO is a man named Christopher Henderson. And before he joined the private sector, he used to work for CTU."

**6:59:57/**

**6:59:58/**

**6:59:59/**

**7:00:00**


	12. 7:00 PM TO 8:00 PM

**Chapter 11**

**The Following Takes Place Between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.**

Sydney was still following Reyes when the call from Chloe came in. "What kept you?" Sydney answered.

"You didn't mention that I was going to have to leave the office," Chloe said with some dismay. "I'm just about finished decoding your cell numbers when Edgar calls to cash in his marker, so I'd drive to the Lincoln Memorial and meet an FBI agent, and go armed, even though I've never fired a weapon since field testing." Chloe paused to take a breath. "You don't know anything about this, do you?"

"Not a word," Sydney admitted. "I can only assume he wants you to meet with Leyla Harrison, but since Vaughn sent her to the White House with very strict instructions as to what to do, I can only assume that something has gone horribly wrong."

"Oh, I'm sure that something has gone wrong; I just don't understand why I have to be the one to fix it," Chloe whined. "Why would a field agent need _my _help?"

"Harrison had spent the better part of her career at the bureau as an accountant."

"Great. So basically for this job, I'm you," Chloe took a deep breath. "What the hell have you and Jack gotten me involved in this time?"

"I've been at this for hours, and even I'm not entirely sure," Sydney replied. "Honestly, this makes with Rimbaldi seem like training wheels." She hesitated. "This is a lousy time to ask, but---"

"I decrypted the numbers and sent them to Nadia, " Chloe interrupted. "Most of them go through an international server that seems to lead to people all over the world... but it's from a diplomat, so, duh. I've sent Edgar after where these calls were located, but it'll probably take awhile to get anything."

"You're already pulling your weight. Thanks."

Chloe hesitated again. "How involved in this mess is Agent Harrison?"

"The only reason that she got involved was because of Vaughn and me," Sydney told her, "but if they've got her targeted, there's a lot more going on than we thought. My guess is there's something else in those files that pertains to whatever the fuck is happening today."

"I figured that much out by myself," Chloe countered snarkily. "Anything that _helps_?"

"The attacks in DC got the ball rolling," Sydney responded. "Maybe they're not finished." At that moment Sydney's cell beeped. "Chloe, I'm still in the middle of a stakeout. You may not feel that you're the best qualified agent for this job, but you're better equipped for this than ninety percent of the people in D.C. right now. You can do this."

"That's bull, but at this point I'll take what I can get," Chloe replied. "I'll get back to you if I find anything important."

"Next time you think of that," Syd replied, "count the days you've survived with me and Jack."

When she terminated her call, Monica's voice filled the void. "Have there been any major breakthroughs?" she asked.

"None." Syd looked up. "We should get ready. Our backup's just a few minutes out. But before we call, let's make sure that there's actually a lead. Now what's this supposed terrorist's name?"

"Harold McNorris. And apparently, the UFO conspiracy business pays better than I suspected, because he has a loft apartment."

Sydney considered this as she parked. "Traditional methods first.," she told her. "Let's see if he or Mr. Follmer have been here recently."

**7:05:48/**

**7:05:49/**

**7:05:50**

"Bad news is most of the hard drives have been wiped," Scully told Mulder. "But the data recovery people think they can recoup some of the records given a few hours."

"Well, that's probably good news for the long run," Mulder replied, as he looked over the screens. "But we probably won't be able to pin down whatever else they've got planned for today."

"Maybe not," Scully told him. "Their tech expert in California is some kind of genius; he finally managed to decrypt the datafile we got from Skinner's office."

"Good to know we still have allies in the techno-world," Mulder told her.

"Don't count your chickens in the incubator. The majority of the files appears to be locations and some kind of numeric sequence that they still can't follow, with those long strings of numbers that Jeremiah Smith was gathering."

Mulder thought for a moment. "We already know that data represented a catalog of every man, woman and child who'd been vaccinated for small pox since 1954," he told her. "Maybe these locations and numbers represent places and targets for some series of strikes."

There was a deliberate pause on the other end. "What are you saying, that these could be some kind of codes for assassinations?" Scully asked. "So how would we read them?"

"You just have to know where to look." Scully almost jumped; Agent Vaughn had been back for awhile, but he and Smith had been in a corner of the room going over some data. "Mr. Smith gave us the name of three companies that he said supported this so-called Consortium, as well as a file name where the information was hidden" Vaughn told him. "Marshall just finished unearthing some of the data from those companies."

"What's in it?" Mulder demanded.

"Names, Mulder," Scully said as she looked at one of the screens. "The names going with every number in that file, if I'm not mistaken."

"Can you match them up with the catalog?" Mulder asked.

"Marshall's in the process of putting a datafile together," Vaughn told them. "Don't get me wrong; it's still a huge amount of data, and will probably take time to match them up. But this is big."

"We still have to figure out what those numbers mean," Scully pointed out. "Unless they've radically overhauled the Constitution while I've been away, it's illegal to gain that kind of information."

Vaughn smiled. "That's right, this is your first day with Jack. You're new here."

Just then, Nadia ran over to them. "Some new information came in that you need to know about," she said as she put her cell phone down and pressed it to speaker. "Go ahead, Jack."

"We think we can identify one of the major players in what's happening," Jack told them. "Vaughn tells me that one of the companies involved in this is Omnicron. The CEO, Christopher Henderson, is a former colleague of mine. He brought me into CTU. I also had to drum him out on charges of corruption."

This sank in. "How exactly does he link up to this?" Mulder asked.

"The person we thought was holding Covarrubias works for Omnicron, and according to Marshall, it's one of the companies that the recent data came from."

"Is Henderson the kind of man who would be involved in this sort of shit?" Mulder asked.

"No, but he had very specific ideas as to how the government should be run," Jack replied. "And considering how well he knows our procedures, he's the kind of man they'd have in their pocket."

**7:12:24/**

**7:12:25/**

**7:12:26/**

**7:12:27**

Agent Reyes walked away from the landlady. "Good to know that this is still a city where everybody is in everyone else's business, even when they say they're not," she told Sydney, who had been listening to the door to the apartment. "Apparently, Mr. McNorris, while a very quiet man who pays his rent on time, frequently has visitors who come at all hours. Says that Agent Follmer's been at least three or four times. The last time they had a conversation that was loud, and not very friendly. Only thing that she remembers for certain is that now was a lousy time to have questions."

"God bless the nosy neighbor," Sydney replied. "Sometimes they're better than a wiretap. Is McNorris in?"

"Not at the moment, but I convinced her to let us search his apartment."

""Probably too much to hope that he has a crib sheet with the names and addresses of his fellow conspirators, but right now, it's our best bet."

They slipped into the apartment and started their search. Monica stayed in the main room—living room, kitchenette, standard New York apartment—while Sydney disappeared into the back for the bedroom. Monica was about to turn on the first light when she heard a noise on the fire escape. She drew her gun, turning towards the window near the kitchenette. In the light from the street lamps, she could see blond-brown hair and cocky demeanor, even as he jimmied the window.

By the time the intruder had opened the window, she was not only in position, but had worked out her story. She waited until he was completely inside before speaking.

"There are easier ways to get inside, even for a burglar," she said calmly from his armchair in the center of the living room.

His expression never wavered. "You're not the usual type of woman McNorris has for company. So, he's not here, then?" he asked in a vaguely British accent.

"Drop your weapon....if you want to stay alive long enough to hear what I have to say." Reyes lifted her gun to chest level "Put your weapon on the table."

There were several seconds of hesitation before the newcomer took out his Sig Sauer. He then flashed a smile. "No reason we can't be on a first name basis. Please, call me—"

"I said I wanted to talk with you, not have a relationship."

He smiled. "No reason we can't do both."

"You came here to kill Harold McNorris." Reyes said flatly. "Are you just mopping up or did he actually have something valuable in this bird's nest?"

"What makes you think that I will tell a virtual stranger anything?" he countered.

"It's the bartender effect: telling your darkest secrets to perfect strangers. Particularly, those who are armed."

"McNorris is irrelevant; he's less than a footnote. But even footnotes have a piece of the story....You know, I like a good repartee as much as the next fellow," he said slowly "but even attractive strangers don't have as much allure when they're holding a gun on me."

He leapt to one side. Reyes fired, but somehow the villain had anticipated it, and threw a stiletto at her. The bullet shattered the glass, and the blade knocked the gun out of her hand. Reyes recovered, and leapt for her weapon, but he had taken his back off the coffee table. Her gun was still a foot away.

"You should've said weapons, my dear," he whispered as he slowly made his way towards her, circling around near her head. He had had too many combat episodes that involved his legs being kicked out from under him to make that mistake.. "I can get away with bringing a knife to a gunfight."

At that moment Sydney, who had been listening to the conversation from the hall, burst into the open. From the first footstep, he grabbed Reyes by the hair and dragged her up to her feet, putting his gun to her head. "Ah, the song has faded, but the melody lingers on. I wondered where you were hiding."

"Drop the gun, Sark," Sydney ordered.

Julian Sark, mercenary to the highest bidder, smiled. "How long have we known each other, Sydney? I don't care how deep your family ties are; you still aren't cold enough to let this woman die because of your bravado."

"You know this jerkoff?" Reyes asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Sydney told her, looking at him over her gun-sight. "His name is Julian Sark: basic mercenary scum. When I worked the field, I seemed to come across him every other fucking week."

Reyes yelled at her, "You do what you have to take this asshole out!"

"You really don't know Agent Bristow at all," Sark replied. "She really does have too much compassion for this---"

He never finished his sentence because Sydney shot him in the shoulder. Simultaneously, Agent Reyes mule kicked him squarely in the crotch. The combination had enough force to send Sark toppling over the coffee table.

"What kept you?" Agent Reyes asked, as she picked up her weapon.

"Your people have had problems with the way Jack and I do business," Sydney countered. "And sometimes it's easier to let them ramble when they think they have an advantage."

**7:19:37/**

**7:19:38/**

**7:19:39**

Twilight had begun to fall over the Great Emancipator as Chloe searched the bystanders for the woman she would be working with. She wasn't sure it was to Harrison's credit or to her own shortcomings that it took her a couple of minutes to finally locate her on the entrance of the monument.

Harrison looked around only once before making a beeline for Chloe's vehicle. She knocked on the window very casually. "Please tell me that you're not here to sell me Avon," she said in as light a tone as she could manage.

"What makes you think I'm not part of the people trying to hunt you down like a dog?" Chloe replied in her usual tone.

"If you are, the mercenary business must be cheaper than I thought," Harrison replied. "May I get in the damn car now?" She slid in and added, "Edgar said to remind you about the terror alert in Santa Monica. Said you still owed him for not double-checking that pirated email," Harrison told her as she got in the car. "I don't know what that means, and frankly, I don't care, because I have a feeling we've got far bigger problems than who owes who."

"Really?" Chloe asked, as she pulled out. "Because I'm told you're a glorified accountant who examines the expenses of the most useless unit of the Bureau."

Strangely enough, Harrison didn't seem to take offense at this. "First, I haven't done anything with the X-Files for years," she replied. "Second, we're not useless today, are we?" Harrison looked at her. "What's the verdict on Senator's Matheson's death?" she asked.

Chloe shrugged. "So far the unofficial ruling is he was an overdose of some kind of MAO inhibitors meant to simulate a heart attack."

"And what if I told you that someone orchestrated that heart attack? In January '99, Senator Matheson pushed a piece of legislation called S.R 819, which dealt with a then experimental machinery." She paused. "Specifically, nanotechnology. One of the facets of this technology was that you could inject microscopic robots into a man's bloodstream. Once there, the robots multiplied within the veins and arteries of the body, essentially building a heart attack."

Chloe could see where this was going "That's not possible yet."

"The man supervising the passage of this bill was Assistant Director Walter Skinner," Harrison replied. "Three days before the legislation got out of committee, he nearly died from an injection of those microbes, triggered by an unidentified assassin. For the next two years, that assassin literally had Skinner's life in his hands, and used it to blackmail him."

"And you think Matheson was killed by that same technology?" Chloe asked dubiously.

"I couldn't figure out a motive," Harrison told her. "Sure, Matheson was Mulder's ally, but they hadn't talked in years. There had to be more to it. So I went through the recent legislation, and a revamped version of this bill was coming up for a vote later this week."

"Nice story, try selling it to anyone higher-up the chain of command," Chloe told her.

"Why is the Bureau so determined to shut me down?" Harrison paused again. "Why am I being shadowed?"

"Maybe you're just being overly paranoid," Chloe told her. "Even if you're not, you still need proof."

"Find us a safe place to set up my laptop and server," Harrison responded. "I know where to find the evidence we need."

**7:24:59/**

**7:25:00/**

**7:25:01/**

**7:25:02**

Monica and Sydney had tied Sark to one of the chairs with some nylon rope, and then Syd shook him awake. She could have just grazed his wound, but she was saving that for later.

Sark's automatic reaction upon waking was to razz Sydney. "I knew all those years with the Boy Scout must have repressed you somehow. Always knew you were the mistress of pain---"

He never finished his sentence because Sydney slapped him across the face. Hard. With the barrel of her gun "You don't get to joke your way out of this, Sark," she whispered.

"Maybe hanging out... with Bauer... brought it out in you," Sark added with a faint smile.

Sydney had decide not to use the little kit that she had been carrying with her in case they had run into McNorris. Not that it would have done much good; she didn't think that even the most advanced techniques would get anything out of Sark that he didn't want to reveal.

"So what is it, this time? Forty whacks with a wet noodle? A nitroglycerine mouthwash?" Sark demanded. "Or are you just going to start cutting off body parts?"

"Are you making requests?" Sydney said, as she looked around for the biggest book she could find.

"We haven't seen each other since---- oh, that's right, the day you became an orphan," Sark told her. "And you're not even the least bit curious how I got from here to there?"

"You crawled on your belly, like any other reptile," Sydney told him, ignoring the cheap shot.

"Oh, so you _are_ holding a grudge," Sark replied.

Sydney didn't answer--- merely slammed the hardcover of the New Testament down on Sark's left hand. This didn't elicit a scream either. Instead, he laughed. "Who do you work for?" she demanded.

He looked at Monica instead. "Boot in the crotch non-withstanding--- and I'll admit, I deserved that one--- you seem like a reasonable woman. So, I'll ask: are you okay with her treating a suspect like this?"

The truth was Agent Reyes didn't seem that comfortable with what she was observing. Even given the circumstances, this did seem a bit excessive. "I wouldn't ask for mercy from someone you just tried to kill," she said straight-facedly.

"It was nothing personal," Sark told her. "Ask Sydney. I try to kill everybody I think it a threat."

"You're digging yourself a pretty big hole here," Monica replied

"Who do you work for, Reyes? NYPD? Bureau?" Sark lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I know it's not the Agency, because you still look like you have a soul."

Now Sydney stuck her hand against his wounded shoulder. He clenched his teeth together, but still didn't scream. "I'm a very knowledgeable person, Reyes," Sark said instead. "She wouldn't be trying to bleed me dry if she didn't think it was worth it. But hasn't there been enough blood today? Aren't you tired of watching people die?"

"Stop talking to her as if you're in a position of strength," Sydney swallowed. "You're in no position to make demands, and you're not getting any deals."

"So this is what, blood for blood's sake?" Sark made a tisk-tisk sound. "I thought that you were better than this, Sydney."

This time Sydney smashed the book against his face.

"You sure there's no easier way to get the information?" Monica asked.

"If there's one thing I know for sure," Sydney said with certainty. "it's that there are some people you never make a deal with." She pointed at him. "He'll tell me what we need to know; it'll just take a little longer than a standard Q-and-A."

"That's a relief," Monica said. "But just in case I'm going to see if I can find any bread crumbs our suspect might have left behind."

Monica tried to tune out the sound of Sydney 'working' on Sark, but she wasn't hardened enough to tune out screams of pain. She didn't want the answers right now, and she didn't think Sydney would give it even as she asked. She turned her attention to the closet she'd been searching through as Sark let out another bellow. These two obviously had a pretty serious history, but this had a level of rage she hadn't seen even when Scully had been demanding answers about her pregnancy.

Then she felt something in the pocket she'd been searching--- something that didn't feel like a button. When she got a closer look she thought she might be on to something.

She walked back inside. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked, as she showed it to Sydney.

"If you think it's a microchip, than yeah," Sydney looked at Sark. "Since I don't suppose he's going to tell us anything, I think we'd better contact CTU, and ask them to start doing work on it."

Sark smiled and said "You mean you wouldn't want to make another deal with me? Think about how well it worked the last time."

"You could arrange to have a UFO parade down 42nd Street; I wouldn't give you the fucking time of day," Sydney told him. "Now what the hell is on this?"

"Why are you asking me?" Sark replied coyly. "Don't you have that fleet of brilliant techs working for you at CTU? But then the answers would come too fast, and we wouldn't have this opportunity for this little chat."

Sydney was tired of dealing with this man---- even if he was valuable to the conspiracy, she couldn't see him ranking high enough to be sent on an errand of this relative unimportance. She wanting nothing more than to put a bullet in his brain, and the only thing stopping here was the very perverse certainty that this would be a victory for Sark.

'Let's go," she told Reyes.

"What?" This got a reaction of surprise from him.

"We've got what we need," she said. "Take his phone. When Follmer and Henderson don't hear back, they'll send somebody else to take care of him. Let them clean up their own mess."

She started walking toward the door, Reyes slowly following. "What do you want?" Sark said when her hand touched the doorknob.

Sydney turned. "Everything.

**7:31:59/**

**7:32:00/**

**7:32:01/**

**7:32:02**

Omnicron had been founded in California, and centered much of business on the West Coast. Nevertheless, it hadn't come as a huge shock to Jack when he found out that it had an office in the heart of New York City.

He was pretty sure that Henderson was cagey enough not to work there, and that he knew enough of CTU procedure so that he wouldn't leave any breadcrumbs, but at this point they needed to follow any trail if they wanted to get some answers.

"Doggett and I just pulled up," he told Nadia.

"I wish you would've at least let me call in a couple of ground units," Nadia replied.

"I'm not saying that it won't be difficult," Jack admitted. "Has Marshall made any progress going through the files?"

"He says he should be able to give us something on the list within the hour," Nadia told him. "Which begs the question, won't he know that someone's been hacking into his files?"

"When was the last time Marshall ever got caught?"

Just then, Scully ran over to Nadia. "We've got a problem," she told her. "We were organizing the database when the computer suddenly started--- well, see for yourself," she said, pulling Nadia over. Sure enough, the screen where she and Edgar had been compiling the database had suddenly filled up with 9's and flashing.

"What the fuck?" Nadia asked. No sooner had she said that that the computer flashed another message. _YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE. _

"Oh, shit" Edgar told them. "Our server's been hacked! Those bastards must have sent a worm in the software!"

"Can you isolate it?" Scully asked.

"If it were that easy, I wouldn't have started my last sentence with 'Oh shit!"' Edgar told them in a panicky voice.

"Is Marshall there?" Jack demanded suddenly.

"Yeah, and I, uh, don't mean to panic anybody, but whatever the hell this thing is that's on CTU's server, it's been downloaded to mine," Marshall was getting nervous even for him. "And, um, it's starting to delete the datafile!"

"Marshall, Edgar do whatever you have to," Nadia ordered. "Jack, get off the line, and figure out how you're going to handle Omnicron. If the worst case scenario plays out, we're going to need whatever information you can find from Henderson!"

Without waiting for an answer, she hung up.

Getting through the gauntlet of security that Omnicron had (which was even more detailed than the Consortium's) did not involve much work beyond showing his badge. What had Doggett concerned was who would relay it to Christopher Henderson. So he had asked to speak to whoever was in charge of security, and had tried to assure the secretarial staff that nothing serious was happening. (In that, he was probably far more qualified than Jack Bauer who, despite his best efforts, always seemed to put innocent people on guard. Then again, the man was scary.)

Now a man in a suit that probably cost twice that he was wearing was walking up to him. "You're Agent Doggett?" he replied. "Carl Schulz, head of security. The lady at the front desk said that someone from the FBI wanted to have a conversation with me?"

"There's been an incident downtown that may concern Omnicron," Doggett removed his cell phone and brought up the picture of the driver that had had the tracker in his car. "Can you identify this man? His name is Howard Finn, one of this company's drivers."

Schulz looked at the picture for a few seconds. "May I ask where Mr. Finn was that has brought him to the Bureau's attention?"

"We picked him up for attempting to violate a federal roadblock," Doggett told him. "While driving a car owned by Omnicron. The only passenger was a woman with diplomatic status, who claimed she had been taken prisoner by this man," he lied. "Under questioning, he said he was following the orders of someone at Omnicron."

Schulz took this in. "I think that we'd better go to my office," he finally replied. "Follow me, please. There's no question that this couldn't be some kind of misunderstanding?"

"He had the individual bound and gagged. Under these circumstances, we tend to come down on the side of the victim."

They moved inside Schulz's office. He instruction Doggett to have a seat while he walked behind his computer. "Did Mr. Finn mention any names?" he asked as he sat down.

"That's when he asked for his attorney," Doggett replied. We were hoping you would be able to answer that."

"I see," Schulz had pushed some keys on his computer. "Well, I'm not sure what I can tell you. Finn has worked for our company since 2006. He hasn't been a model employee, but nothing in his file to suggest—"

"Kidnapping and false imprisonment isn't parking in a handicapped space," Doggett pointed out. "We want permission to see the GPS records of Finn's automobile," Doggett replied. "We understand those records can only be accessed through your computers. We have a warrant," he overrode Schulz's unspoken complaint, "so if you would---"

This was a hell of a bluff, but Schulz bought it. "The records aren't on these computers," he replied slowly. "You'll have to come down to the garage."

What Doggett hadn't seen was that, as Schulz had been typing, he had typed on his computer an instruction to the security monitors on an outside feed.

Which were being monitored--- a few blocks away--- by Christopher Henderson.

**7:39:46/**

**7:39:47/**

**7:39:48/**

**7:39:49**

"Please tell me that we're closing in on killing this thing!" Nadia demanded of Edgar.

"I've just about got it," Edgar said in as calm a voice as he could manage--- which wasn't that calm, actually. "We might be doing a better job if Marshall would do something with that code I gave him!"

"I'm basically writing an antivirus from scratch!" Marshall was, if anything, more worked up than Edgar "I just need to input one last line of code, and----"

There was a long pause, after which the screen finally stopped flashing, and the warning message went away. "We got it," Edgar finally whispered.

"And now for the bad news," Marshall pointed out. "I think this worm took out almost half the datafile. Now I think I can recover it, but it's going to take me some time."

"What about the data we compiled earlier?" Nadia asked.

"I managed to get it into a non-corrupt mirror site," Edgar told them. "It's going to take some work, but if Mr. Smith can be as useful as he was in sorting the things out earlier, we should be caught up in less than thirty minutes."

"Not to be a killjoy," Scully spoke up "but shouldn't we be concerned as to how this virus got in here in the first place? Maybe that datafile's got some more hidden bombs in it."

"Maybe the problem came when we opened our servers to outside contractors?" Edgar posited quietly. "That's the only way a worm could get past our server."

"I may have accidentally exposed the servers when I started searching through the companies databases," Marshall admitted. "In that case, then this would be my bad."

Nadia could see that Edgar was on the verge of throwing a fit, so she preempted it. "Retrieve the data, close off the servers, and find out where the fuck that virus came from. I don't care who does it, as long as we get some fucking answers."

"How long until we pull up the records?" Doggett demanded.

"Hang on a minute," Schulz finally looked at the screen. "The records are over here." He put his hand in his pocket and walked back to Doggett.

Doggett walked over, only to be deafened by a loud blast of feedback. He barely had time to recover from that when he saw that Schulz had a weapon drawn at him.

"How much does CTU know?" he demanded quietly. There were two other men waiting in the shadows immediately behind him.

Doggett knew that he wasn't going to get any help in time. Fortunately, he hadn't surrendered his weapon to security, and only one of the thugs appeared armed. He dropped to his knees as the first thug fired his gun. Doggett drew and fired three shots. The heavy took one in the shoulder, and dropped his weapon..

Schulz then fired at Doggett, but he rolled to one side, and fired at his knees. Unfortunately, John didn't watch his back, and the skinny one attempted to garrote him. He nearly managed to get the wire around his neck before John turned his weapon around and shot him point blank in the chest.

The bulky thug was a tough bastard--- even though his shoulder was spurting blood, he continued to fire. Doggett reacted by tossing the thin man towards the shooter as he dove behind the nearest desk, and waited for the thug to empty his clip. But this guy was smart enough to fire two shots before stopping. Schulz was no dummy, either--- he ran around to the other side of the garage in order to corner him.

For a moment, Doggett wondered why Schulz didn't radio for help--- then realized that he had probably cut communications in an attempt to seal him in. _Nice strategy. Let's hope that I can make it work for me._

"Give it up, Doggett!" Schulz shouted. "You're in our building, and we control all the doors. You have nowhere to run!"

Doggett didn't answer this, because he was counting his sources. At the moment he had only one more clip, along with the bullets still in the Sig Sauer. Then he got an idea. It was an incredibly risky one..._What the hell, it worked for Bauer._

He looked up briefly, and made sure that all of the angles were correct. Then he got up, and rolled around to the other side. The bulky gunman opened fire, but Doggett ignored him. Instead, he concentrated his fire on the vehicle immediately to that gunman's left--- not an easy shot by any means.

It took him four shots to strike gold and blow the car's fuel tank, but the force of the blast was more than enough to cook the bulky gunman like a hot dog.

Jack Bauer, who had started running as soon as the signal was jammed, ran into see the garage a mini-war zone, with two bodies, and Agent Doggett standing just a few feet away from what appeared to be the only remaining assassin.

"Guess I got worried over nothing," he said as he lowered his weapon.

"Let's not go patting each other on that back just yet," Doggett reminded him. "We are still in the basement of a building full of people wanting to kill us. And I don't know about you, but I didn't bring enough ammo for that kind of bloodbath."

"We can't leave empty handed," Jack countered.

Doggett gestured towards the man on the ground. "Let's take him. My guess is that he can tell us where to find Henderson and Follmer."

"You might as well kill me," Schulz told them.

Jack smiled easily. "Believe me, that option is still on the table."

**7:51:22/**

**7:51:23/**

**7:51:24/**

**7:51:25**

Reyes and Sydney put Sark in the back seat of their vehicle.

Sydney got on her cell, and Nadia answered with "Sydney, where the hell have you been? Did you get anything out of Sark?"

"He's suggested a deal. But that's no longer going to be an issue," Sydney told her. "While searching McNorris' apartment, we found some kind of microchip. I'm transmitting it to CTU now. Can you have Edgar extract the data on it?"

"You're lucky that you called us now," Nadia replied. "Until about ten minutes ago, there was a good chance that our servers had been compromised...Oh, you have got to be kidding.... Sydney, there's a call from Jack. I'm putting this on the conference call.... Jack, can't you go anywhere without leaving behind wanton destruction?"

Sydney raised a brow as she got into the car. "Where did you lay waste to now?"

"Omnicron." Jack hesitated. "Which happens to be run by the same man who recruited me for CTU."

"Please tell me you're joking," Sydney replied. "Did you run into him?"

"Pretty sure that he wasn't in the building," Jack replied. "But I'm goddamn sure that he knew we'd be coming."

"That makes me feel so much better." Sydney was beginning to feel like she had been sucker punched. "How many people did you kill?"

"Well, surprise, I didn't even get a shot off. It was all Doggett."

Sydney sighed. "Here's my surprise. Guess who's in the back seat of my car. Big hint: it's someone we both knew in unhappier times."

This time there was an even longer pause by Jack. He mentally recalled all of the people that he and Sydney had both dealt with that they had left alive. "You're not telling me that Sark is there?" he finally asked.

"I guess you and Agent Reyes aren't the only ones being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past." Sydney replied. "The question is, now what do we do?"

"Well, it's Sark, we can tend to him later" Jack said. "Henderson and Sark are linked by Brad Follmer. The easiest way to do this is to find him. Nadia, do we have a New York address for him?"

"No apartment; no house," Nadia replied. "And he hasn't used any of his credit cards or bank accounts in the last week. He's smarter than the usual bunch. And his paychecks are a General Delivery at a P.O. in Washington Heights."

"He might be operating out of a motel nearby," Bauer reasoned. "We could check."

"Our manpower's stretched pretty thin, Jack," Nadia reminded him.

At which point, Scully spoke up at long last. "Send Mulder. He never met a goose he didn't want to chase down. That Syndicate haven has produced zip. Right now, we would be better served finding Follmer than chasing a ghost."

"Have him do it," Jack interjected. "I agree with both of you, and we don't have the time to play around."

"What are you going to do?" Sydney asked.

Jack put Schulz in the car. "You're not the only one who has other options to fall back on.," he told her.

_**LOS ANGELES**_

"I'm sending the data stream to you now," Marshall told Edgar. "It should tell us which names go with each people."

"What about the numbers? Knowing who doesn't do us much good unless we know where and when."

'Well, I've been working on that," Marshall said "and I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I think----"

And at that moment, the lights in Marshall's basement flickered out and his computer screen began to flash before dying.

"Marshall, what the hell? " Edgar asked. "The data just cut out.".

"Someone is screwing around with the power grid to my lab," Marshall told him. "And, um, since the only way that can be done is my tapping directing into the LA power lines, I think that there's a good chance that whoever sent me the worm has sent people to finish the job."

**7:59:57/**

**7:59:58/**

**7:59:59/**

**8:00:00**


	13. 8:00 PM TO 9:00 PM

**Chapter 12**

**The following Takes Place Between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.**

Vaughn had heard Marshall's suggestion that there were bandits on approach, and ran over to Edgar. "Marshall, it's Vaughn. You're in the basement right?"

"Yes," Marshall had dropped his voice to a whisper. "I don't know if they're in the house yet, but I'm guessing I've got maybe two, three minutes before they bust the door down."

"What about your security systems?" Edgar asked.

"I, um, haven't exactly been using the most up to date for the last couple of years," Before anyone could react to this, he reminded them. "I stopped being a secret agent a long time ago, remember? I haven't needed to use amplified security for awhile. Steve Jobs is more obvious when he tries to steal your material."

"Okay, okay," Vaughn tried to remain level. "Calm down.. When we got you the upgrade for your security level, we made sure you got some added protection. They should be doing a perimeter sweep right now."

"Power's down," the man dressed in black said. "Finish setting the charges, and then get moving. Destroy the electronics, then destroy the house," the first man replied. "If Flinkman should somehow survive, we take him. Henderson doesn't want him dead until we're sure of everything he's done for CTU."

The second assassin clearly didn't agree with this, but he had just finished setting the charges, and he wanted to make he had gotten out of the line of fire. "One minute, and you can start the clock," he replied.

And at that moment, the man who had been walking away from the power lines fell over as a silenced shot from a Walther took him down.

"Start the countdown, Hughes," When he got no answer, "Hughes, come in."

When he got no response again, this time the second gunman decided to run for the car, but he hadn't gotten more than five feet, when his feet were knocked out from under him. As he fell to the ground, the woman then did a foot sweep, and planted her heel in the small of the killers back.

The assassin was tough, and tried to reached for his weapon but the woman was quicker and ground her other heel into the man's shoulder hard enough to dislocate it. He let out a scream that could have been heard a couple of blocks away.

"Who sent you?" she whispered into the man's head.

"Whose little girl are you?" the man snarled. Her response was to slam her heel into the mans crotch.

"Not asking again," she told him.

"Christopher Henderson," the man whispered.

"How did he know that Marshall was the one behind the hacks?" she demanded.

"He must have been backtracing the data-" He was interrupted when his arm was twisted behind his back.

"Bullshit. I worked with Marshall for three years. The only you knew he was in your system was if he let you know. Now I'm going to ask again, and I don't like repeating myself."

"I don't know!" the man shouted. "Why the fuck would he tell me? I'm small potatoes compared to the people he has working for him."

She then got on the radio. "I have a prisoner for transport and interrogation at the back of the house; move it, and make sure the place is secure!"

He glanced over his shoulder at the woman, then cursed himself. He had literally been taken out by a short blonde. "Who the hell _are _you?"

She smiled, lowered herself in a crouch, holding out her ID for him to see. It then came speeding at him as she decked him in the face.

Before he blacked out, all he could think was _There's another Bauer out there?_

**8:05:06/**

**8:05:07/**

**8:05:08**

"The flash drives have been erased, and they seem to have shredded almost every document," the acting agent told Mulder. "We're doing everything we can, but whoever these people are, they did an expert job of cleaning up after themselves."

Thus far, it was all holding to pattern—find a lead, find some evidence, find said proof thrown down the memory hole. Fox looked over the entire records room in the surviving part of the building. He had walked through the front earlier, and wondered if there was any place Bauer went through that have been left mildly intact. He remembered something about the CTU building in LA that didn't fair well for him... Mulder turned his mind to the present crisis, even though he didn't want to. "I don't know why I'm surprised," Mulder said tiredly. "They've had over half a century to perfect it." He sighed. "Forward all the data we _can _find to CTU. Maybe they've perfected some new techniques of data recovery in the last few years."

Just then, his cell rang. "Mulder," he said.

"It's Edgar. That key card you scanned from the Consortium ninety minutes ago, I've finally managed to read some of the data from it." Edgar told them. "You're right, it has nothing to do with the building you're currently in."

Mulder didn't actually think he'd posited that theory, but let it go as Edgar went on. "The address is 185 Courtney Street in Crown Heights."

Now Mulder was becoming baffled. "What does the conspiracy have to do with Brooklyn?" he asked. "It doesn't add up."

"Actually, it does. For the past two hours, we've been trying to chase down this Brad Follmer that Agent Bristow ran into at Penn Station," Edgar responded. "That guy from DHS. His paycheck was delivered to a P.O. Box in Washington Heights. Turns out that office is less than two blocks from the address we pulled off the keycard. A deeper search into the city's history shows that it's a purchase of Omnicron."

"Which company?" Mulder hated sounding like this.

"The third of the companies given to us by Jeremiah Smith." Now Edgar was frowning. "This conspiracy is your baby. How can you not know all the players?"

"This kind of thing, you rarely get an idea of the magnitude of," Mulder told him. "To be honest, I never thought I'd get this far."

"How long will it take you to get to Brooklyn?" Edgar asked.

"These Hummers you have me equipped with; I take it they have a GPS?"

"I'll send you the coordinates ASAP."

"The Lone Gunmen would've been lucky to count you as a colleague," Mulder told them

Thankfully, no one was nearby to see that Edgar almost redden at this. "That means a lot coming from you, Mulder," he told him.

"Now why couldn't people like you have been following me fifteen years ago?" Mulder couldn't help but let a trace of bitterness enter his tone.

"We're here now," Edgar told him. "I just hope it's not too late."

**8:11:22/**

**8:11:23/**

**8:11:24/**

**8:11:25**

Nadia slid into a chair in the conference room, and spared Scully a glance as the screen turned on to show her sister standing in the street. It was obvious the laptop had been mounted on the hood of a car.

"Okay, we finished the scan of the chip," Nadia told her sister, not noticing Scully stiffen as she heard the last word. "It's an audio file, and not a very long one; there's quite a bit of breakup. I'd put Marshall on it, but I've got him organizing that datafile now. Listen."

There was a long pause and then a burst of static.

'... This operation... too big a risk...' a deep male voice began.

'We don't... choice," a second voice said. 'The timetable's been... twice already. If we're to have a chance... act now.'

'This isn't a... " the first voice argued. '... a dozen targets! Anything... go wrong.'

"You putting this through the voice recognition?" Sydney whispered.

"Working on it now," Nadia replied.

'... we spread it out?' the first voice said. '...after the first... they're gonna... all over us!"

'Killing... not enough... have to arrange... all of them!' Now a third voice was speaking. This one Sydney did recognize, and so did Reyes. It was Follmer.

'Can't we... infect them?'

'The virus has gone through too many mutations over the years," This time the first voice was clear enough. "That would be dangerous. This is suicidal!"

Follmer: "Are we sure that the man on the inside is reliable?"

Second Voice: 'As much as any politician is.'

Follmer: "...Matheson...making noises...roadblocks! He gets in the way..."

"We're going to handle Matheson," the second voice said with confidence.

"Christ, why not just slaughter Congress!" Follmer was starting to sound frantic now.

'That's...later,' the second voice replied. "Don't ….everything...done with guile..."

'Seems, Christopher, that we're...all the heavy lifting.' The first voice had gone incredibly cold. "When...your ass on the line?"

"The day of the attack," the second voice, apparently, someone named "Christopher," replied. "...I've ...as much invested ...as any..."

"What about that other possibility...?" Follmer raised.

"Don't tell me you're still worried about this Mulder character?" said "Christopher"

"This guy has a habit of being a hair across the ass," Follmer argued. "We need to be prepared for him showing up."

"CTU's ...our problem, not some flake...presumed dead for...years," the first voice said.

"We'll handle him," said Christopher with confidence. "... we need to begin... on a tight schedule... We can't afford a mistake."

Follmer: "All right, I'll get the teams moving."

Then there was just static.

"Sweet Jesus," Monica replied.

Sydney sighed. "Did you get anywhere on vocal recognition on that?"

"Fifty-fifty. The second voice on the recording was Christopher Henderson, but there's nothing on that other one." Nadia replied.

"Never mind that," Monica told them. "Brad was talking about several assassinations! They could start any second"

"Which is why," Sydney replied, "we have to find Follmer. And someone's going to tell us everything they know." She glanced in the back seat. "Now."

"Actually, there's an easier way to do this," Scully, who had been eerily quiet through all this, spoke up now. "Edgar told me that the best chance we have at finding Follmer is at an address at Washington Heights. Mulder's already chasing it down, but he's going to need backup, and you guys are closest."

"If that's the case, we really are spread too thin," Sydney replied.

"We are," Nadia replied. "But Scully's right, you can get there a lot faster than anyone I can send."

"Really?" Reyes gestured to Sark, in the back of the CTU SUV. "What do we do with him?"

"We're going fishing, aren't we?" Sydney asked rhetorically, eying Sark like a bucket of chum. "Never know when a worm as big as this will come in handy."

**8:18:47/**

**8:18:48/**

**8:18:49/**

**8:18:50**

"You've got confirmation that it's Henderson," Jack replied, as Nadia updated him on what she had just heard, "but nothing on the third man?"

"There's a fair amount of breakup on that tape," Nadia admitted. "Edgar's willing to go through it with a fine tooth comb, but I don't know if we have time."

Jack paused, signaling a lane change. Driving in New York wasn't quite as bad as driving in LA, but damn, were these people aggressive. "Is Marshall okay?" he asked.

"Moving Kim to watch his house was the right play," Nadia replied. "One assassin is dead; the other in custody. According to Michelle, 'your daughter's got a mean right hook.' They both smiled at this. "Unfortunately, they deactivated the power. It's going to take Marshall half an hour before he's back up to speed."

"I'd rather have him alive than worry about his tech," Jack told him. "Besides, he's Marshall. Give him ten minutes, he'll have figured to reactivate his system with a pair of jumper cables." He paused. "What about the datafile? Any possible correlation?"

"Probably," Nadia told them. "If these really are assassinations, they could be referring to time and place. I've been going through the list;, the initial locations correspond with where a lot of the members of the Cabinet and other legislative aides currently are."

"Nadia," Jack asked slowly, "is one of the locations local?"

She hesitated. "We've already made contact with Aaron Pierce. Secret Service has been alerted, but if they really do have someone on the inside, they might be able to outflank us."

"Have you briefed the President yet?"

"I figured you'd want to. This is still pretty wild speculation. He's more likely to give it weight if you tell him."

"I'll brief him, but I think we have to change our priorities," Jack said. "We need to search Omnicron from top to bottom, and damn if that means Henderson runs to ground. Though if he's smart, he's probably run already. Where are we on locating Follmer?"

"We gave Mulder the address we found off the chip we found in McNorris' apartment," Nadia told them. "Edgar's pretty sure that will lead us to Follmer. At the very least, it gives us a better chance of finding where he's been hiding the last few years."

Jack knew this was still a long shot, but he decided to keep quiet. "Where are we on locating Covarrubias? She can't just have vanished off the face of the earth."

Nadia nearly laughed. "If you believe what we've been hearing, that's actually a valid possibility." She turned serious. "We sure that she's even still alive?"

"They've been pretty clear about killing their enemies," Jack pointed out. "She must still have some value to them. Now I've got one of the people responsible for moving the tracker. I think asking him where she is right now is a good place to start."

"Then don't let me keep you from doing what is necessary," Nadia hung up.

Jack jerked sharply on the wheel, heading for a side street, then stopped sharply. Jack turned in his seat, towards Schulz in the back, and drew a tazer. "We're going to have a little talk, you and I."

**8:22:15/**

**8:22:16/**

**8:22:17/**

Sydney tried to convinced Reyes to leave her vehicle behind, and drive her and Sark back to the Washington Heights address where Mulder was headed. When asked why, Sydney had been as blunt as before

"We need to get answers out of Sark," she had replied. "And while my talents are manifold, I still can't work on him and drive the car with my knees."

Monica figured there was a long and very ugly history between her and Sark, and she had already gotten a glimpse of how brutal Sydney was towards her nemesis. The last place she wanted to be was in a moving vehicle with those two in the back seat, and she told her, in short "Hell no." The term "crazy bitch" wasn't used, but the inflection was clear in her tone.

Now, as both cars drove out to Brooklyn, her cell rang. "Reyes," she answered.

"Monica, where the hell are you?"

A smile briefly crossed her face. "You didn't tell me what a horrible mess we'd gotten ourselves into when you made that call this morning, John" she told her partner.

"I've been dealing with it longer than you have, and I didn't know it was this convoluted," Doggett said.

The smile faded. "What fresh hell are you and Agent Bauer getting yourself involved in?"

Doggett explained. Reyes filled him in on the audio recording, and Doggett sighed. "What gives me pause is the source. This is a recording on which the fate of the fucking world might rest. What the hell is it doing in the hands of someone who at best is a foot soldier in this conspiracy, one who we didn't know existed until a couple of hours ago?"

This part _had _bothered Monica. She had found the link between McNorris and Follmer, but even she had to admit, it was one that was one borne out of geography than anything else. Something about this smelled like a rat, but she had to admit she needed to get a closer look at this conspiracy to get any idea behind this connection.

"The man who might be able to provide us with this link is currently in the back seat of my car, getting a thorough interrogation." She had put up the divider to block out the screams of pain, but it wasn't doing a great job. "The links are there, John, and I think we may have to disregard some of the things we've learned to get to the truth."

"Yeah, yeah, the truth is out there. I've heard that one," Doggett replied.

Sydney looked at Sark in the rear view mirror from time to time, pondering what she should do to him when she had the time. Not for information, but for recreation. With all the family in her life dead, save for Nadia, Sydney found she had no one left to take it out on. She couldn't yell at her father, shoot at her mother, or even strap Arvin Sloane into a chair for a Jack Bauer special... but there was still Sark.

He smiled back at her reflection. "While I know what you want to do with me, Sydney, I feel I should warn you that, as your Mr. Bauer likes to say, we have no time."

"What's this we?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"My information has a quick sale date, and if you're not going to push me for information, I'll just have to fill in the gaps. Your Agent Follmer has been making rounds of mercenaries as part of a special project for the last five years. A project so highly placed that only three men know the full scope, three men who haven't even been in the same room for the last three years. McNorris' recording apartment was one of the few times they even had a conversation."

Sydney raised a brow. "Two of whom were Follmer and Henderson. Where would a low level player like McNorris even learn about this?"

"A mere gofer between them, I assure you."

"Let me guess," Sydney filled in, "you were to dynamite the gofer hole."

"Sort of. He was a loose end. I figured that McNorris was holding something over agent Follmer... I persuaded him to tell me about the recording. Two hours ago, I called Follmer to have a meeting with him, involving a very delicate matter."

"You were going to blackmail him? Good to know you're consistent."

"And the meeting is in a matter of minutes. Best hurry, love."

**8:27:26/**

**8:27:27/**

**8:27:28**

Mulder was finding out that one of the advantages to being in CTU was that traffic seemed to clear a lot faster in one of their hummers than any Bureau licensed vehicle. Not to mention the fact that the GPS was practically driving him where he needed to be. As a result, it had taken him less than half an hour to find the address Edgar had provided for him in Crown Heights.

The one skill that hadn't atrophied while he had been on the run was surveillance, so he had pulled to a stop a little more than two blocks away from the address in question. As he searched the glove compartment, he found what appeared to be normal binoculars which, on closer examination, had an attachment which allowed for night vision. "Does Q have a branch office with these people?" he thought to himself.

He was about to put them on when his cell rang. "Mulder."

"Mulder, it's me," Scully answered.

"Hey, Scully, I'm on site. Don't worry; all those years of ditching you have finally taught me the value of waiting for backup. Do you have any idea when it's going to arrive?"

There was no immediate answer. "Scully, are you all right?" He immediately knew that it was a stupid question, one almost certainly to be followed with the ubiquitous: "I'm fine": a phrase Scully had used after abduction, bomb scares, and cancer. Which is why her actual answer came as something of a shock

"Mulder, what are we doing?" It wasn't the question that bothered him so much as the tone of resignation. "This morning, you were willing to turn yourself in rather than go one more mile on this quest. Now you're leading raids and going medieval on parts of the conspiracy you didn't know existed until a couple of days ago."

This didn't sound like the Scully he had grown to love over the past decade. "Scully, the President is taking my phone calls, and the government's giving me a blank check. What made you think I wouldn't jump at the chance?"

"Funny, since I spent seven years in a cramped basement listening to you rage against the machine," Scully countered. "It was one of the things that made me follow you in the first place. Now, in the space of less than ten hours, you seem willing to chuck every impulse you've had."

"That was because all that time I was bellowing into the wind," Mulder reminded her. "Now, I actually reached a larger audience, and they have the credibility I never did. How can I not seize the opportunity?"

There was another pause. "So you're just chasing the white whale again," Scully finally said. "Without bothering to check if they can be trusted themselves."

Mulder wasn't following this at all. "Scully, Jack Bauer is a national hero," he reminded her. "And without Bristow and Vaughn, there's a very good chance we'd have gotten shot to pieces before leaving D.C. How can you _not_ trust them?"

"They used to work for Arvin Sloane, Mulder," Sydney replied. "That guy was one step below that chain-smoking son-of-a- bitch...or maybe the other way around."

This briefly caused Mulder to recoil, but he quickly recovered. "Scully, what's this about, really?" he asked.

"You always do this, Mulder," Now there was definitely bitterness in Scully's voice. "You say that your mission is exposing the truth, and then you close in on someone or something that's going to change the world, or validate everything you've wanted to prove, and you forget your rules. And you always end up crushed. Physically, emotionally, mortally- damn, I've had to bury you once already. I can't go through it again."

This couldn't be about Scully's mother, any more than it had to do with him. Something else was clearly bothering the woman he loved, but he couldn't figure it out. Or, maybe, he was so focused on the events of the last twelve hours that he couldn't see what was going on in his own house any more. Scully had always worried, but she'd almost never revealed her inner darkness. Had he finally pushed her too far? "Scully, what-"

And in a moment of timing that might almost have been comical if the situation wasn't so dark, he saw another car pull up less than a block away from him. At that same point, his phone beeped. He ignored it

"What is it?"

"Scully, what's going on here?" he asked.

"The beep on the other end; it's probably your back up." Scully replied. "I'll get back to you as soon we're ready."

"Damn it, Scully, can't we talk about this?"

"We've talked a lot; we'll talk more. We'll just do it when we do all of our important talking- later." And before he could react to this, she hung up.

There was a knock on the window, and Fox nearly jumped, looking down at... Monica Reyes "Mulder, we've been trying to get you for the last couple of minutes." She sounded tense- which for her was a big tell.

"Monica? What are you doing here?"

"We've got a guest in the back who had an interesting story to tell us- one that has to do with this address."

"Another dead end?"

"No, if you believe him, this is where he was supposed to meet with Brad Follmer," Reyes couldn't hide the sadness in her voice at this. "And according to him, it's supposed to happen any minute now."

**8:36:32/**

**8:36:33/**

**8:36:34/**

**8:36:35**

"So this Sark has been giving Agent Bristow and her friends a major headache for the last few years?"

"I think that's the mildest possible way to put it." Reyes said. She explained everything Sark told Sydney.

Mulder paused a moment before asking his next question. Um...How did Agent Bristow manage to get this information from Sark?"

"You didn't tell me that the agent who saved your life had such brutality in her," Reyes told him. "She didn't even get started on him when we found the chip, and she hadn't even started up again when he started talking."

"That's odd."

"Well, if she had her way, he'd look like he went six rounds with a Cuisinart."

Mulder couldn't conceal a wince. "And Bristow thinks that Sark will behave for this meeting?"

"I think the only reason that she's letting him go through with it, is because she knows there a damn good chance that Follmer will kill Sark if he realizes that he's being screwed with."

"'Twas Beauty that killed the Beast'" Mulder muttered.

"No, but if this doesn't produce results, I have a feeling that Sark will wish he'd fallen off the Empire State Building."

Jack Bauer looked at his target, and pondered if Schulz hadn't been so easy to convince because he knew that it would be a pain in the ass to break into this bloody place.

According to the security head, Covarrubias was here. The Weigert Building had been an office holding one of the largest HMO's in the country before the real estate crunch had led to them vacating the property six months earlier. Omnicron had bought the real estate, but had not improved the property- at least, that was all that Edgar had managed to learn from a quick background search of the probate.

Now as Jack circled the building, following the infrared signals that he was getting from the satellite, he realized that maintaining the abandoned facade was going to make approaching it a lot more difficult, much less leading a search and retrieve by himself. He moved through the shadows between streetlights, flattening himself against the face of the building, next to an open window.

"What are you waiting for?" The voice that pierced the darkness was weary and beaten, but still somewhat defiant. It was also very familiar.

"Come on, Marita, you've been part of these operations long enough." Jack hadn't heard this voice in nearly a decade, but it was still familiar. "A thorough debriefing is necessary for anyone of your stature, even if you are about to be liquidated."

"You torture me, they torture me; doesn't really add up to much in the long run." Covarrubias was replying. "And in the short run- which is really all any of us should be dwelling on- you're going to get your ass thoroughly kicked by going in against the people you work _for."_

Well, it appeared he had arrived just in the nick of time- even though saving Covarrubias was a lower priority then apprehending Henderson. He was beginning to wish he'd at least brought Agent Doggett for backup, but he was probably going to be dealing with his own headaches with Schulz. He'd called Nadia- the unit was spread all over the city, so essentially he was on his own. He was loaded for bear- not as much as he had been when facing down Ira Gaines at his compound or the Drazens, but he was ready.

There was little point in hiding things, so he decided now that he knew he was in the back, he'd go right in through the front.

**8:43:55/**

**8:43:56/**

**8:43:57**

"How sure are we that Sark hasn't just led us into a trap?" Mulder asked from his position in the adjacent building. "Or that he won't sell us out the second he gets inside?"

"Actually, I'd be surprised if he didn't do just that," Sydney answered, as they watched Sark approached the address. "But Sark knows that too, and he knows that given the choice of dealing with my wrath or Follmer's, he knows who'll be a bigger threat."

Not for the first time, Mulder wondered who exactly were these people he'd gotten involved with. He didn't have time to wonder for too long, though, as Sark had hit the buzzer. After a few exchanges, even Mulder thought that there was something wrong here.

No sooner had he thought it then it seemed that every window in the building was firing on them.

"Why is this shit always happening to us?" Mulder thought as he began firing. Unfortunately, he had only taken out his Sig Sauer, a Walther, and several clips of ammo with him (these kind of gunfights were _way _beyond his level) but he did the best he could using the gear he had pulled from the Hummer. The night vision goggles he had liberated enable to spot and take out two shooters in the darkness below.

Sydney was doing better. Knowing that smoke grenades would be far less useful in this fight, she instead removed a couple of flash grenades instead. She pulled the pin on one, and lobbed it into the courtyard. Three seconds later, the horizon was filled with light, and she took advantage by firing her M8 into the spots where she had made out a gunman with an AK.

The thermal vision and heat sensors seemed to indicate that there were at least a dozen men in the building. Given the amount of fire, Reyes was convinced that there were at least twice as many, and they all seemed loaded for bear- and she had never been in a shootout of this magnitude.

"Who am I, Butch or Sundance?"

Sydney wasn't sure how many people Follmer had left behind, but it was more than enough to take down the three of them. She had hoped that some of them would disappear with the vanishing of their superiors, but it just wasn't happening, and they hadn't kill enough to stem the tide.

"Where the hell's are back up?" Mulder was still having trouble shooting and barking into his headpiece simultaneously, but he was getting a handle on it.

"Five minutes out!" Sydney shouted back.

"Forgive the phrasing, but I don't think I can last that long," Mulder responded. "I'm down to my last clip!"

Sydney had been considering this, and reexamined the Palm Pilot showing the satellites of the building. They still didn't have eyes for the interior, but according to the thermal imaging, there were anywhere from eleven to fifteen men left, three on the roof, three firing on the outside, and the rest shooting from the windows, along with what seemed to be a small ammunition dump. She had faced worse odds while working with and against Arvin Sloane, but not by much, and not without experienced help. Still, she had an idea- not a good one, but an idea.

"We've still got one weapon left," she told them. "We crack the gas tank on the hummer, and drive it into the building. They won't be able to stop their ammunition fire fast enough. When it hits the wall, I'll probably take out the front half of the building."

Reyes saw it faster than Mulder did. "You're crazy! That's a suicide play!"

"We don't have a choice!" Sydney yelled out. "We don't do something to stem the attack, they'll kill all three of us, and in less than two minutes!"

"Then run for it!" Mulder shouted back. "Monica and I can put down enough covering fire for you to get away!"

"I can't let you do that!" Sydney said as she fired three precious bullets at the window. "You're the only ones who have a handle on this fucking conspiracy! Without you two, we'll never be able to figure out who's behind it!"

"That's bullshit!" Mulder shouted as he fired. "You've got a family!"

"These are the risks of the job!" Sydney was trying very hard not to think about this. "Besides, it's better that two of us get out than none of us!"

"You're only half right."

Sydney had just enough time to register that Agent Reyes voice was a lot closer than it should have been when someone punched her across the face. She fell back momentarily, but it was long enough. A few seconds later, she realized that whoever it was had to be a lot faster than her.

"I'm sorry, Sydney," Monica Reyes whispered. "but I guess you forgot that I still had the keys." Then before she could respond, she had opened the front door and was in the driver's seat. Before either of them could react the car was moving.

"Monica, you can't do this!" Mulder was shouting.

"Little late to draw straws," Monica was speaking in a far more level tone given the circumstances. " We placed a tracker on Sark, but he'll probably have cut that out. Use the traffic cameras to find Brad's car. And tell John" now her voice cracked, "I'm sorry I left him without a partner."

Those were Monica's Reyes last words. Five seconds later, she drove the Hummer into the front wall of 185 Courtney Street.

The explosion that came a few moments later shook the street, was enough to blow up the entire first floor of the building, take out two of the guards, and knock a couple of the gunmen off the roof. Almost immediately afterward, the gunfire died out.

Sydney was still finding her feet when she saw Mulder standing less than ten feet away. Considering he had been on the other side of her, he'd made great time getting here. "She didn't have to do this," he muttered. "We were almost out."

Now Sydney could hear sirens and helicopters nearing, but she also pointed to show that the explosion had also knocked the body of a gunman less than five feet away from her and Mulder. "Not close enough," she countered

Mulder paused. "I am so sick of these sacrifices," he told her.

And before Sydney could say something inane, he took out his weapon, and emptied his clip into the corpse before beginning to cry.

**8:50:57/**

**8:50:58/**

**8:50:59/**

**8:51:00**

Jack had been watching the guard's rotation for the last two minutes, and waiting for him to complete his latest arc. A split second before the guard turned, Jack put a bullet just above his left ear.

_One down, six to go _he thought. _Let's hope the rest are that easy. _Unfortunately, he had to wind his way through bad lighting and no working cameras for the interiors, and with only almost useless pair of infrared goggles.

He fished the communicator that the guard had been wearing out, and headed down to the hall He had barely gotten ten feet when he heard a burst of static in his ear. "All units," Henderson's voice echoed, "finish the perimeter check and head towards the exit."

Henderson was getting the hell out of Dodge, but Jack had no time to speculate because his earpiece was buzzing again. "Howard, finishing up last perimeter sweep, come back."

When there was no immediate response back, Jack had a nasty feeling that the man he'd just killed was named Howard. _Oh well, I never liked the subtle approach._

Less than five seconds later, another sentry came running down the halls. Before he could get too good a view of his face, Jack shot him in center mass. He fell like the proverbial ton of bricks.

Jack had just about five seconds to get to a guarded area before two more of the guards came running.

And then the halls were alive with the sound of gunfire. Evidently Henderson no longer cared about the subtle approach either. Unfortunately, the massing of these troops now meant than he was about to run for it, and Jack had already expended too much time and energy to lose him now.

So he took out two of the smoke grenades he had brought with him, and waiting until he heard the sound of footsteps. Then he pulled the pins one after the other, and rolled them on the floor, and starting running and shooting. Within the space of seconds, the halls were filled with grey mist, and soon the mist was filled with blood.

Henderson had not been idle through all this. "You've caused me a lot of trouble already today," he told Marita. "I think it's time you did me some good before you stopping doing everything else."

Then he took out his .22 and shot the bloodied Marita in the stomach. "Let him wrestle over what to do with you," he said as he ran out the exit, with the two remaining henchmen.

It took Jack less than a minute to clear the hallway and make it into the room where Henderson had been working on Marita. He fully expected to find the diplomat as dead as Victor Drazen, but she was still clinging to life, even though she seemed to have more holes in her than Augusta National. The sight of her injuries did not lessen his distaste for the woman. "Where's Henderson?" he demanded.

"Gone," It was clearly an effort for her even to whisper. "Out the back door. Please save me."

"We don't need you, Marita," Jack said bluntly. "You don't know anything."

"I know- what's going to happen next," she told him. "He's moved things up. He's planning to kill- the President."

"I already know that," Jack argued, speeddialing CTU.

"It's going to happen within the hour," Covarrubias managed to gasp.

That got Jack's attention. "You're sure?"

"I heard him give the order," Marita was wheezing now. "Save me, and I'll tell you the rest."

If Jack had learned one thing, it's that's people who are near death have lost all reason to lie. "Edgar, it's Jack," he yelled into the phone. "I need you call for a Medivac to the Weigert Building on the double! And contact Nadia! Tell her we need to talk with Secret Service _now!"_

**8:59:57/**

**8:59:58/**

**8:59:59/**

**9:00:00**


	14. 9:00 PM TO 10:00 PM

**Chapter 13**

**The following takes place Between 9:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.**

John Doggett had been sent to take Omnicron headquarters, and he brought some company. Two CTU helicopters, twenty SWAT and CTU sharpshooters, their targets picked out by satellite imaging and picked off by heavy and accurate fire, punched through the defenses. No one wanted to poke their head out, least it be shot off.

The CTU strike team had come in wearing armor, with riot shields up and ready.

Doggett hadn't expected getting into Omnicron would be like storming the beaches at Normandy, but he hadn't expected much easier considering the earlier fight they'd put up. What he hadn't considered was that only a handful of people in Henderson's company were in fact in on the plot, that a good deal of them had spread out over some of the other buildings, and that the few that were left were acting like the Republican Guard and destroying as much intelligence as they possibly could.

As a result, by the time they got inside the building, it was all over sans the shouting. The people in the lobby were more than willing to surrender, and they had superior numbers to take care of the ones who were left.

As he looked over the smoldering remains of the lobby, his cell rang. "I have to take this. Let me know when you've got something," he told his men before answering. "John Doggett."

"John, it's Scully...They tell me you've secured Omnicron."

"We're inside, and they've stopped shooting," Doggett told her. "As whether we've secured anything of value, well, that's a whole other matter. Have we had any lucking tracking Henderson?"

"Henderson's a slippery bastard," Scully replied. "Jack Bauer almost had him, but he got away. All he got for his trouble was Covarrubias." A note of real anger entered her voice. "As if anything that bitch might know is worth knowing. Condition is critical, and based on what Bauer told me, probably fatal...I can't say I'm sorry..."

There were too many hesitations for Doggett to ignore. "Scully, has something happened?"

Another pause. "John, when Mulder went after Follmer, Bristow and Monica went out to back him up. Apparently, 185 Courtney Street was a hideout for another cell of this damned conspiracy. They tried to slaughter everybody, and the only reason they didn't is because one of our own gave their life instead.." Scully hesitated. "John, Monica's dead. She died saving Mulder's life."

Doggett had endured many horrible blows in his nearly fifty years, but this was probably the most devastating one since he had come across the body of his just murdered son in an alley in this very city. Monica had been there, and indirectly, Brad Follmer had been responsible for that loss as well. Then, as now, he felt this sucking wound in his chest cavity where his heart had been. He had been a stoic man for much of his life, but for the first time in a long time, he felt like he might faint.

"I'm so sorry, John," Scully, usually as reserved a person as he was, seemed on the verge of tears. "I know better than anyone what you're going through right now, and I wish to Christ the world would stop so that we could mourn the people we lost, but this horror never seems to end."

In the part of his mind that was still operating, he heard himself say: "We didn't get Follmer," We don't have Henderson. And we still don't know if these people are done yet."

"They're not, Agent Doggett," Scully managed to say. "They're going after President Palmer, and according to Covarrubias, it could happen any minute now."

Now parts of him began to function. "How can they possibly do that?" he asked slowly. "We put in a call to Secret Service when this threat was initiated. The President's been in lockdown for the last hour."

"I don't know how they're going to do it," Scully admitted, "but these bastards seem capable of getting past our defenses. We have to believe it's possible."

**9:05:29/**

**9:05:30/**

**9:05:31**

**Crown Heights**

Since the backup had started sorting through the rubble of 185 Courtney Street, Sydney had deliberately allowed Mulder a bit of latitude. He didn't know how close Mulder and Monica had been, but even during apocalypses, you were entitled to slow down if a friend died. (She hadn't had the luxury of this often enough, but still...) But now, as they got through more of the interior of the building, they were at a point where they could use his help.

So Sydney left the team behind and went out to talk with Mulder, who was still staring at the skeleton of the Hummer that Reyes had driven into the building. This was not a good sign.

"The hell of it is, I'm not even sure if these people are the same the ones I've been chasing all these years," Mulder said as she walked over to him. "Your conspiracy, my conspiracy - they all blend together so much I don't even recognize the monster I'm chasing anymore."

Sydney approached carefully. "Mulder, I know she was your friend," she began.

"Actually, she wasn't," Mulder was now speaking in a disconnected way that Sydney didn't like. "I'd seen her maybe three, four times in my entire life. The conversation I had with her at CTU was probably longer than all of the others put together. She didn't know me at all, but she was willing to die for me." He looked at her. "Maybe you were right when we first met this morning. Maybe I am a terrorist. Why else do I inspire such horrible things being done in my name?"

Somehow Sydney didn't think Mulder was going to respond to the urgency of the threat anymore. "Agent Reyes told me a little more about you," she started again. "She said that you were the subject of a prophecy- that your life or death, depending on the proper scripture would bring about the salvation of mankind?"

"Or damnation, depending on who you ask," Mulder still sounded distracted "And I already know that it's madness, so you needn't-"

"So was I," Sydney interrupted. She had not wanted to talk about this, but it had managed to raise Mulder from his stupor. Possibly, it was the conspiracy nut instincts in him kicking in. "And too many people gave them too much credence. And because of what they believed, dozens of people died. Some of my closest friends were murdered." Now she was hesitant. "My parents were on the opposite sides of this so often. My parents both died because of it. They came after my sister. They tried to kill my daughter. And almost as a side note, the world almost ended. "

For the first time, Mulder turned away from the car. "You're shitting me."

"Trust me, no. Whatever you do, don't say the name of Milo Rimbaldi around Jack. "

"Rimbaldi? You mentioned him before... did he have anything to do with a Russian city a few years ago that was—"

"It was more like Arvin Sloane and an aunt of mine using Rimbaldi's devices..."

Mulder frowned, studying her a moment. "Do you remember that incident a few years ago involving a nuke in LA, was that—"

"Another aunt...and Arvin Sloane."

Even Mulder had to blink at that one. "Both aunts were terrorists? Wow, you must have some odd family dramas."

"You have no idea."

"Well, your mother obviously turned out all right, you—"

"She was Irina Derevko."

Mulder blinked. "Wow. And you turned out to be a non-mass murderer. I'm trying to imagine you with siblings—"

"That would be Nadia."

Mulder looked at Sydney, trying to reconcile the features of Nadia Santos and Sydney Bristow. "That's odd, you don't—"

"Same mother. Her father was Sloane."

Mulder rocked back...and Nadia was engaged to Jack Bauer. He tried to imagine a offspring that combined the DNA of Derevko, Sloane, and Bauer, and considered that he should stick to alien babies. "I wondered why you guys bought into us so easily. They usually break out the butterfly nets."

"I think Jack prefers aliens to dead Italians by this point. But you know why I was retired until this morning."

Mulder considered this for a moment. "Then why are you here?"

"You think I'm going to let the world burn because I want a vacation? It doesn't matter whether the monsters are human or not. I won't let everything I love be destroyed without a fight. You're right; I don't know you. But based on everything that's happened today, I think you're that kind of person as well."

Mulder's expression didn't change, but then Sydney as beginning to realize this guy had a stone face Buster Keaton would envy. "If you wanted my help going through the wreckage, you could have just asked," he finally said. "You didn't have to give me the whole rah-rah bit."

"I'm being straight with you Mulder," Sydney argued.

"I know—not even I could make that all up," Mulder countered. "But let's be serious. Now I don't know you any better than you know me, but I can't see you settling down. You're always looking towards the next crisis, which is what you're doing now. You do what you have to. Which means you're as much of a user of people as I am."

Mulder didn't even see the smack coming. The sound of her hand hitting his face was so loud, some of the teams looked up to see if that was gunfire. Mulder rocked back on his heels, and Bristow moved right into him, violating his personal space, even though he had six inches on her. "I have had enough of your whining self-pity. Reyes didn't die for _you_. She died for the _mission_. Because these people _can't, win._ Now, I have lost my father. My mother. My best friends. They're all gone because of this crap. But I keep doing it because _they_, can _not_, _win._ So if you can man up for a minute, Jack has your blonde diplomat friend. She says that the conspiracy is planning to kill the President. Now, David Palmer is a friend of mine, and I've had my fill of people dying on me. Right now, we need any lead that we can find in order to stop them. Now are you going to help, or are you going to crawl back into the hole you've been hiding in for the last decade?"

**9:12:46/**

**9:12:47/**

**9:12:48/**

**9:12:49**

Jack knew, strictly speaking, he didn't have to be here. He knew the Secret Service was more than capable of carrying out their charge, and that listening to Covarrubias spill her guts might benefit them more in the long run. But David Palmer was his friend, and he had been through too much with him to leave his life in someone else's hands.

So after the Medivac had lifted off with orders to drop the diplomat off at CTU, he had gotten back into his car, and headed towards the Stokes Hilton in the Financial District not far away.

"We get anything out of Omnicron?" he asked Nadia as he walked up to the front door. He showed his identification to the man at the front desk.

"Not yet," Nadia replied over the phone. "I've got Edgar working on data recovery."

"How's Doggett holding up?"

"He says that working keeps his mind off what's happened...and right now, he seems able to function. But, according to Scully, he knew Monica long before they worked on the X-Files. He's not going to just shake this off."

Jack thought Doggett was made of harder stuff than Nadia gave him credit for, but was inclined to agree. "I gotta go," he said as he got off the elevator. "Keep me appraised the second anybody finds something of value."

"I hope you don't need it, but good luck," his wife told him before hanging up.

Aaron Pierce walked up to him. "The President's conferencing with his Cabinet," he told Jack. "The entire floor has been given an extra-level of security, but we could use some specifics on the nature of the threat."

Now that he was here, Jack realized _he _wasn't sure what to look for either. "Aaron, do you know every man on this detail?" he began.

"I've been working with some of them for twenty years," Aaron told him. "And you know as well as I do how hard it is to compromise Secret Service."

Jacks' eyes narrowed. "I don't assume that anymore. Two words: Nina Meyers."

Wisely, Agent Pierce didn't dispute this. "That still doesn't tell us what to look for."

"A direct approach would probably be out of the question," he replied. "What about some kind of bomb?"

"Like I said, we've done a sweep of the entire twentieth floor," Aaron told him.

"What about the nineteenth and the twenty-first?" Jack asked.

"We did a sweep of them a couple of hours ago."

"Then I think it's time that we did another," Jack replied. "For starters, check the rooms directly below and above the Presidential Suite."

**9:19:13/**

**9:19:14/**

**9:19:15**

**Crown Heights**

"I'm beginning to think anything that Follmer thought was important, he was smart enough to take with him," Sydney said.

Mulder didn't respond; he just began to very slowly search the floor. He hadn't said word one to Syd since they had come back inside the building. She was beginning to think he was going through his own version of shell shock. Then he spoke up. "Do we have a count as to how many people Follmer had in the building?"

"They found eight dead on ground level, four on the second floor and five on this level," Sydney told him. "There were four survivors."

"And you just haven't gotten around to moving the dead out of the building yet?" He was looking very closely at one particular corpse.

Sydney now was at sea. "It's not exactly a priority. What exactly are you getting at?"

"This man wasn't killed in the assault," Mulder replied. "For starters, he doesn't have a weapon on him, and there are no signs he was shot," He knelt by the corpse. "Furthermore, two of his fingers are broken, and I can see blisters on the wrists. My guess is handcuffs." He looked up at Sydney. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he'd spent a couple of hours with you."

Sydney ignored the idle jab. Though it was sad- she used to make these comments about Jack. "So you're saying that this man was a prisoner, and after Follmer and his posse finished with him, they shoved his body in the corner, and hoped we wouldn't find him."

"My guess they didn't care one way or the other," Mulder answered. "I guess the question now is, who the hell was worth this much attention?"

Sydney took a picture of the man. "I'm pretty sure this guy isn't going to show up in any of your databases," Mulder replied.

"On the contrary, I'd see there's a much better chance that this guy's one of us," Sydney got on the radio. "Edgar, it's me. I'm sending you a picture of one of the men we found. Run it through all law enforcement and federal agencies."

"Another double agent?" Edgar asked.

"He's in no condition to tell us," Syd replied. "Get back to me as soon as you have something."

Mulder had continued to examine the body. In it he found a Palm Pilot. Surprisingly, the LED readout was not smashed, which considering the damage they had done to the guys face and body, he would have thought would be a sure thing. "What the hell did they save this for?" he muttered. "I'm a little rusty on my tech; is there anyway this could be used as some kind of explosive?"

Sydney took a look at it. "These days they could do it with a flashlight," she said, as she took it from him. "Somebody get the explosives experts just to be safe."

Just then, her radio beeped. "Yeah?"

"We got a hit right away," Edgar told them. "The man's name is Howard Simmons, and he's with Secret Service. He was sent ahead a couple of days ago to investigate a threat to the President, and he's hadn't reported in for thirty-six hours."

Suddenly, Sydney was beginning to get a very nasty picture. "Why hasn't he shown up on our protocols?" she demanded.

Edgar was getting it too. "Because according to the roll call, he's been reporting in at the Stokes Hotel," he told him.

"Get me Jack now!"

**9:25:06/**

**9:25:07/**

**9:25:08**

**Stokes Hotel, 19th Floor**

The man who was calling himself Howard Simmons had not been given the job of pulling the trigger on the President. His deployment had been to do recon and, at the appropriate time, allow the real assassin access to the proper level.

"Would've been a lot easier to just shoot the guy," the fake Simmons said as the assassin finished laying the explosives.

"They wanted to make sure that nothing got out of that room alive," the woman said as she began setting the timer.

"Simmons" watched her since she came in. She didn't enter the room so much as slinked in, like a lithe cat. Anyone who looked could tell she had a nice figure for someone who was only 5'3" tall. The breasts were modest, but well proportioned to the rest of her petite form. Her legs were slender, but they were graced with sleek muscle and she had the ability to use them well. And her face... Her face was beautiful, the bones gracefully sculpted, a button nose placed perfectly between two bejeweled blue eyes. There were faint freckles that Kevin could see only because her skin was pristine white porcelain, framed by a length of raven black hair.

She was gorgeous... until you got to the eyes and stared at them for a while. And realized that they were completely and totally empty.

The assassin was a virtual unknown to CTU and the Bureau, but she was very good at her job. And she was as ruthless as Henderson himself.

Henderson merely called her "Mandy."

Now as the faux Secret Service agents walkie-talkie began to buzz, he was about the find that out. "How long?" he asked.

"Three minutes," Mandy told them. "How long until you're missed?"

"Long enough for me to take care of business."

Mandy was still getting up when he pulled his weapon, but he never got a shot off as Mandy whirled, and put two silenced bullets in his chest. She then prepared to exit.

"How did this man have gotten past our security clearance?" Aaron Pierce demanded over the phone.

"He had all the identification," the overmatched agent was saying. "And I verified his bona fides with D.C."

Pierce glanced to Jack Bauer next to him. "He was dispatched to the nineteenth floor," Pierce told them. "And according to the specs, 1923 and 1924 are directly beneath it."

"Call your men! Get everybody out of the Presidential Suite _now!" _ Jack took out his weapon. "Get as many men as you can to that room!"

Jack knew what the fake Howard Simmons looked like, so it threw him a little to see not him, but a dark-haired woman in her twenties walking casually down the hall. Nevertheless, he knew she didn't belong. "Put your hands up!" he demanded as he pulled his weapon.

When she didn't even slow down, Jack prepared to put a bullet in her, but she was a second faster then him, and fired two shots behind her. By the time Jack was back in position, the woman had gotten into the elevator.

"Goddamn it!" he swore. before getting on the radio. "Shut down all the elevators!" he ordered, knowing that it would still take them at least a minute to do that.

He ran down to room 1923 to see that five agents had beaten him there, and were breaking the door down. "Holy shit!" one of them shouted. "The ceiling's been wired!"

They weren't kidding. There was enough plastic explosive on that ceiling to erase the entire twentieth floor from the map. And according to the timer, they had barely a minute before the place went boom.

"Everybody out!" he ordered. "Get this floor evacuated!"

"What's going on Aaron?" the President demanded as Pierce began ordering his people out of the building.

"We believe that there's a bomb right below this room," Aaron said, in that controlled tone that David Palmer had come to rely on. "Everybody has to leave right now."

There were more two dozen people in the room at that time, and though the Secret Service was trying to maintain order, some of the less experienced people were beginning to panic and starting to make control a lot more difficult. One particular smart fellow had started running and had knocked over some of the senior staffers, causing a bottleneck at the exit.

Jack managed to make it to the fire stairs when the bomb detonated. The force of the explosion almost completely passed by him, but half of the agents on the floor were almost surely baked alive.

More used to blasts like this, Jack knew that the bomb had been a lot bigger than it had looked, which meant it probably had taken out half the ceiling. If this was true, the whole Suite could have been taken out.

He ran like hell upstairs.

Aaron Pierce's ears were still ringing from the explosion, and he was pretty sure his left arm was broken from flying into the wall, but he was still alive. And even though he was feeling tremendous pain, his duty overrode his injury. It took him ten long seconds to located the President little more than ten feet away.

"Mr. President, are you all right?" he ordered. He tried his radio, only to find that the explosion had smashed it to bits. He looked around, saw another agent lying dead on the floor, and grabbed his radio. "This is Pierce! POTUS is down! POTUS is down!"

**9:34:49/**

**9:34:50/**

**9:34:51**

By the time Jack made it upstairs, he had heard Aaron's message through the shortwave. He couldn't help but be reminded of a hotel room in California what now seemed like several lifetimes ago. Even with his all the protection around him, it had been sheer luck David Palmer had survived that explosion, and Jack knew better than most that fate had a way of redressing the balance.

The bomb they had used that night had been comparatively miniscule to what he had found downstairs, so there were a lot more bodies by the time he made it into the hallway. But he was looking for two in particular, and if he found one, Jack knew he would find the other.

"Agent Bauer!" The voice was familiar, but it took Jack a few moment to place it: it was Lynn Kresge. Her hair was singed, and there were small bruises around her eyes, but she looked all right otherwise.

Jack ran over to her. "Where's the President?" he asked of her.

"I don't know," Kresge admitted. "I heard Agent Pierce shouting that he was down. But he was in the hall when the bomb exploded; he should have been safe, right?"

To see this solemn senior aide so disturbed was just one more sign of the horror that had been visited upon them. "Where is Agent Pierce?" he asked instead.

"Over here!"

The slight encouragement Jack had felt hearing that voice died the second he turned and saw that Aaron wasn't yelling for him, but rather for the army medics that were now running his way, and that could only mean their worst nightmare might have been realized.

He followed the medics to where Pierce- bloody, bruised, and given the unnatural way it was hanging, probably had a broken arm- was standing over President Palmer. As he got closer, however, Jack could tell that the President was burned severely, but his eyes were open and he seemed to be trying to say something.

"Don't try to talk, sir," Aaron said gently. "We're going to get you out of here."

The medics ran over and began their own examination of the President. Meanwhile, Aaron noticed Jack and walked over to him, seemingly oblivious of his own injuries.

"How bad?" Jack asked.

"I saw some burns, and a fair amount of cuts and bruises," Aaron said stalwartly. "Pretty sure the force of the blast blew him into to the wall, but they're going to have to give him a battery of test before they know how serious." He swallowed.

"You should probably get someone to look at your arm," Jack gently said.

Aaron shook his head. "Not until the more serious injuries have been looked at," he replied valiantly

Jack could've pointed out that Aaron _was_ more seriously injured, but knew the man well enough not to try and argue with him.

"How the hell did this happen, Jack?" Aaron demanded in a slightly lower register that for him was the equivalent of a bellow. "Who did this to our house?"

"I'm not sure," Jack admitted bitterly "but right now, one of them might still be in the hotel. I'm going to find her, and get some fucking answers."

What neither of them knew was that Mandy had not been idle. The elevator had only gone down six floors before the light went dead and the car stopped moving. Even though she was essentially trapped like a rat, she had come prepared for just such an emergency.

She hadn't gone into this elevator by chance. Under the floor, she had secreted a crowbar, and now she removed it and opened the elevator. She also knew that Secret Service would assemble on the floor where the elevator had stopped, so-using a level of dexterity that Sydney would've envied- she managed to crawl down the wire until she was on the twelfth floor. She managed to pry the doors open just far enough, and then squeezed through them.

By the time security opened the doors and discovered she wasn't on the car, she was running down the fire stairs. And because the part of the Secret Service that wasn't there was converging on what remained of the Presidential Suite, she managed to make it down to the first floor before anyone had time to seal off the exits.

She dropped her gear and calmly walked out the front door of the hotel, having threaded the needle as effectively as any SD-6 agent would have.

**9:41:26/**

**9:41:27/**

**9:41:28**

Sydney had stepped out of the room to try and communicate with Jack, while a CTU tech had finally managed to realize that the Palm Pilot was not a bomb, and that the LED managed to work long enough to reveal a phone number.

Almost casually Mulder inputted the number into his phone. Honestly, he expected to be another dead end. It only rang once before he got an answer.

"Hello?" A muffled voice spoke.

"Who is this?' Mulder asked.

There was a deliberate hesitation. "Mulder, is that you?" the voice said.

"I guess you have the advantage of me," Mulder replied.

"So you are back in the game," the voice said. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this."

The voice was vaguely familiar but Mulder still couldn't place it. "Who am I talking to?"

"It's Jeffrey Spender, Mulder," the voice told him. "And since you found this, I guess we have a lot to talk about."

Just then, Sydney reentered the room, and when she saw that Mulder had another distracted look on her face, she was not happy at all. In all honesty, she was tempted to yank the phone away from his ear. But the sad truth was that even if Mulder had known what was happening to the President, there was a very good chance he might not have cared. He was talking with the dead, and when he did, the world could be burning down around him- as it was now- and he could be oblivious.

"I'd ask how you were still alive," he was saying to Jeffrey Spender, "but given how much effort it took before that chain-smoking bastard finally kicked it, I'm not sure I want to know."

"Fox Mulder is no longer curious?" Spender replied. "Now _that _would be an X-File all it's own."

"Oh, I'm curious," Mulder replied. "For example, I'm very interested about your connection to the Secret Service. Considering how much you loathed federal employees in your previous life, I wonder what the fuck they'd want with a little snot like you."

There was a pause. "Considering how much I put on the line for you at your trial, I'd think I was worth a little more respect," he told him.

"Maybe I'd be less judgmental if you hadn't helped me lose my son," Now real anger was seeming through his voice. "But then, what did you ever know about parenting?"

Now there was a laugh- more of a wheeze, but Mulder could hear the bitter humor in it. "That's what you want to talk about?" Spender told them. "You spend Christ knows how much time an energy tracking me down in the middle of what may well be the darkest day in this country's history, and you want to bitch about _these _old scores. Maybe you haven't changed.".

"I do want answers," Mulder replied. "How mixed up in this conspiracy are you?"

"I'm involved, Mulder, but not on the side you think."

"You're not going to tell me that you're one of the good guys now?" Mulder scoffed.

"Good was always relative," Spender countered. "Let's just say I'm a free agent."

"Yeah, Covarrubias tried that," Mulder countered. "It didn't work so well for her either."

"Interesting," Spender told him. "You've saved me the trouble of small talk, and led us to something that will move you to the head of the class...You want to know where I stand- I will give you all the answers if you will bring Marita Covarrubias to me."

"Now why the hell should I do that?" Mulder asked.

"Don't tell me that you actually give a shit about her."

"No," Mulder countered "but the people assisting me just went to a hell of a lot of trouble to get her _away _from your people."

"Like I told you, they're not my people."

"Forgive me for not trusting someone descended from the greatest liar in history." Mulder argued.

"You don't want to believe me, that's your prerogative," Spender replied.

Now it was Mulder's turn to laugh bitterly. "We are on the verge of wrapping this whole mess without anybody's help," he replied.

"Really? What exactly did you get out of the Syndicate's offices? You had a goddamn army, and they wiped it clean before you could get anything. They're still two steps ahead of you, and you'll never catch up playing by their rules."

"Even if this were true, why would I turn to you for help? Don't say it's because we're practically family."

Spender's laugh sounded like a bitter cough. "I wouldn't dream of pulling that one on you. No, you'll turn to me for help because I'm as much an enemy of those bastards as you. And you know what they say about the enemy of your enemy."

Sydney had only been getting half this conversation, and while she had no doubt it was probably of vital importance, they now had far more serious matters to deal with. Then Mulder said something she didn't want to hear. "They wouldn't let me just give her to you," he replied.

"I'm going to hang up," Spender told him. "I'll call you back in fifteen minutes with a time and meeting place. Now this is a one time only offer, and if you don't meet the conditions, you'll never get any of the answers you want. You might say you can live with that, but I think we both know better." _Click._

Sydney arched a brow while Mulder glanced stupidly at the cell. "I realize that was probably an important conversation," Sydney said sarcastically. "but your friends in the conspiracy bombed the Stokes Hotel to try and kill the President. He's seriously injured and en route to Mount Sinai now. But there were eleven other casualties, including Mike Novick."

"What about the assassin?" Mulder asked.

"It's looking a lot like she walked out the front door."

Now Mulder was a little detached. "There must have been a small army there, and she slips through your fingers? What the hell kind of ship are you running?"

"Jack's more pissed than I am, but right now he wants us to focus all our energy on locating Henderson and Follmer. So please tell me that whoever was on the other end of that phone was worth the time."

"The man I was speaking to was Jeffrey Spender," Mulder replied. "A former FBI agent, he was about as close to the conspiracy as you could get. I thought the guy was a sniveling rat who had no morals, and who only helped people when he had no choice. I hadn't heard from him for seven years, and even then I was convinced he was about to die."

"And he said he was involved in the conspiracy," Sydney demanded.

"He doesn't have the backbone," Mulder scoffed. "However, we've a better chance of getting the truth out of him then some of the other slime involved. And I wouldn't mind if you or Agent Bauer gave him some of the treatment you've given those who have tried to deceive you."

"Who is this guy that you bear him such hostility?" Sydney asked.

"He's just my half-brother," Mulder answered casually. "And you know how hard it is to trust your family."

**9:52:35/**

**9:52:36/**

**9:52:37/**

**9:52:38**

"What do you _mean_ she's not there anymore?" Jack demanded. "You're telling me she opened the doors and crawled down the service shaft?"

"Actually, it's looking like that's exactly what she did," the bewildered security chief said. "Which makes me wonder if it was someone in your family who did it."

At this point, Jack didn't know whether alien assassins or another Derevko daughter was the more frightening possibility. "Get whatever security footage we have on her to every agency in the country. I'll be goddamned if I let another of these monsters slip through our fingers."

Just then, his phone rang. Somehow, he thought that Sydney would not find any of his ramblings amusing. "Bauer," he said.

"How bad is the President?" she demanded.

"Based on the initial exam, the injuries were serious but not fatal," Jack told her. "We got lucky. The assassin used enough explosives to take out Staten Island. Which will no doubt get her a stern reprimand from Henderson - if she ever surfaces."

"The building was full of Secret Service. How the fuck did she get out?"

"At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if she ascended into heaven." Jack was exasperated, too. "Secret Service is working on the Cabinet's safety. Right now the agency wants to send more people out to expand the manhunt. And the FBI and Homeland are staking their claim. This could become a historic clusterfuck."

'Well, I don't want to make a bad situation horrible, but speaking of clusterfucks..."

Jack shook his head. "What has Mulder done now?"

"Nothing actually," Sydney replied. "The lead all but landed in his lap, which is why that he trusts it even less than we would. His name is Jeffrey Spender, ex FBI; missing, presumed dead for the last seven years."

"Isn't everybody?"

"Oh, it gets better," Sydney then explained the rest.

Jack exhaled. "What the fuck does that bitch have in her head that everybody seems to want her?" he demanded. "And what makes Mulder think this is a good idea?"

"In fact, he thinks it's a horrible idea," Sydney argued "but he also pointed out that we haven't got much else in the way of options. I pointed out to him that Covarrubias is still undergoing surgery, and he argued that Spender never specified how alive she has to be."

"Did this Spender make Mulder any promises at all?" Jack said hollowly.

"Honestly, I think ten hours with us has brought him down to our level," Sydney replied. "I think if they're together for more than five minutes, he'll put a bullet between Spender's eyes."

"What do you think?"

Sydney didn't hesitate. "Covarrubias has no deal with us, and I think we've squeezed as much intel out of her as we can," she pointed out. "This bitch hasn't done us a great deal of good. I think it's time we trade up."

"So how would we get Covarrubias in a presentable condition?" Jack asked.

"We've got an alien with a magic touch," Sydney reminded him.

**9:57:02/**

**9:57:03/**

**9:57:04/**

**9:57:05**

"He's going to want to deal only with me," Mulder reminded Sydney. "This guy never amounted to much in the brains department, but he knows all about how to survive."

"The number he called from was rerouted through a half-dozen servers.," Sydney told him. "This guy knows all about our procedures, too."

"He was on the other side, too, don't forget." And at that moment Mulder's phone rang. "Here we go." he said as he picked up. Across town, CTU was listening in

"Do you accept my offer, Mulder?" Spender asked without any foreplay.

"I think you know as well as me that I can't afford to say no," Mulder replied. "Besides, it's not like ever cared much for this woman."

"Bring Covarrubias to Columbus Circle just outside Central Park South by 10:30 ," Spender said slowly. "I know that you're not working alone, but if I see anybody other than you and her at that location, you will never see me and the rest of the conspiracy will go off without a hitch."

"They've already gotten to the President," Mulder reminded him. "You're honestly going tell me this kind of anarchy is not the end game?"

"You've been chasing these people all your life, Mulder. Has the elected government ever been the alpha or omega for these people?" Spender didn't wait for an answer. "T-Minus twenty-nine minutes Mulder. Don't fuck this up like you have every other time."

"Whoa, wait a minute. I'm about to hand over someone who is, frankly, better known and more connected with the conspiracy than you ever were," Mulder argued. "Just what am I getting in return?"

"Your heart's desire, Mulder, or at least it was once," Spender replied. "And don't bother trying to trace this. We'll be face to face soon enough." He hung up then.

"You could've tried keeping on the line longer," Sydney argued.

"In less than half an hour, you're going to get a chance to give this guy a bloody paw," Mulder argued. "Let's not complain that we didn't get an edge where we couldn't anyway. I'm more concerned with the idea that trying to wipe out the cabinet was not their end game."

"Their end game, according to you, was to assist aliens in taking over this planet." There was still something in Sydney's voice that smacked of disbelief. "I'm not entirely sure that can't be stopped in one swift blow."

"One thing at a time," Mulder said. "It's the only way we can deal."

What Mulder didn't know was that the wiretap that Nadia had suspected had been placed in CTU's phone line was still in operation. And in a secure location, someone else had just her this one minute call.

"How long will it take you to get a team in place?" Peyton Ritter asked.

"Less than fifteen minutes."

"I'd have more confidence in you, Mr. Henderson, if Bauer and Bristow didn't keep running rings around you."

"Trust me, sir" Henderson emphasized the last word with disdain. "No one is coming back from this rendezvous alive. Mulder's luck has just run out."

**9:59:57/**

**9:59:58/**

**9:59:59/**

**10:00:00**


	15. 10:00 PM TO 11:00 PM

Chapter 14

**The Following Takes Place Between 10:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M.**

Nadia hadn't thought it was possible for things to get worse after the attempt on the President's life. It didn't take long for her to realize that they weren't even close to hitting rock bottom.

First, there had been very angry calls from the heads of NSA and Homeland, both of which wanted to know how CTU could've "just let this happen." A committee from Congress- led by that puling junior senator from California- demanded to know what the hell the Cabinet had been meeting on before the explosion. Nadia hadn't heard from Jim Prescott- who was no doubt at that minute convincing the cabinet to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, giving him full executive power - but she had little doubt that he'd be on the line making the same demands in a matter of minutes.

It was understandable that, when she heard there was now a deal for Covarrubias, still undergoing surgery, that she was understandably angry. But her anger was just a mood swing compared to the cold fury that was Dana Scully

"That piece of shit can't be trusted," she told them in what was probably the loudest tone she had used since arriving at CTU. "Not for one fucking minute!"

"Nobody here does," Nadia pointed out, "but in case you hadn't noticed, we're just about out of leads, and we don't know when the next attack will come. Spender may be a piece of shit, but we've made deals with far greater devils."

"That's easy enough for you to say," Scully countered. "Spender hasn't betrayed you. He didn't cost you your child."

Nadia had read Scully's file, so she knew that she had had Mulder's child in 2001, and that by the time of Mulder's trial, she had given up their son for adoption, but she hadn't known the details, and hadn't asked. "From what I understand, you voluntarily gave him up," she replied.

An anguished look appeared on Scully's face. "Only after that bastard made it clear that William would never be safe. If I'd known the full details, I'd have killed the son of a bitch on the spot."

Sydney instantly empathized; she had a feeling Jack would do the same. But this raised an automatic question. "Then why didn't you? Jeffrey Spender testified at Mulder's trial. It might not have been polite, but certainly after the verdict was read out, you could've done so with no repercussions. So why haven't you killed the bastard?"

"I never got the chance," Scully replied. "Two days after the verdict, we were running for our lives." She paused. "Besides, like it or not, he was Mulder's family. I couldn't take any more of that away from him. And anyway, he looked like he was on his last legs. I didn't know he'd have the tenacity of his old man."

"Another one of those villains who kept coming back no matter how often you killed them?" Nadia said in false cheerfulness.

"I saw his father get killed the last time, and he was in pretty shitty shape then," Scully argued. "But for all I know, they've got his brain and his lungs hooked up to some electrodes in New Mexico, still puffing away at his damn Morleys."

Nadia wanted to hear how this story ended - parts of it made her heritage seem positively benign, but at that moment Vaughn entered. "Smith did his thing," he told her, shaking his head. "Covarrubias is well enough to transport. What exactly is the plan?"

"He's made it clear that only Mulder and Covarrubias are to meet him there," Nadia told him. "Obviously, we're not sending them in alone, but we'll have to be very careful where we'll hide our teams. Jack's headed out from the hotel to monitor the situation; Syd's going with Mulder. Both of them will coordinate."

"Who's going to be transporting Marita?" Scully demanded.

Nadia and Vaughn exchanged glances. "I was planning on sending Michael to handle this-" she began.

"He's still recovering," Scully said. "Besides, do you really want to spend all your agents on this?" She tried to sound detached, and wasn't succeeding.

"It's a bad idea for us to send the two of you together," Vaughn began.

"You don't think your people can't handle a five-foot three pathologist?" Scully told them.

"I'm not going to authorize this-"

"Last I checked, I don't work for you," Scully replied. "Besides, I've been through way too much shit with these two, just to let them walk out the front door now."

There were a lot of reasons that this was a bad idea, but they didn't have time to argue. Besides, there was a good chance that by using her, they could get more information out of the diplomat before they threw her to the wolves.

Nadia was about to find out she didn't know the meaning of the word clusterfuck.

**10:06:47/**

**10:06:48/**

**10:06:49**

**Washington D.C.**

**Restaurant on K Street**

"You do realize that they just tried to assassinate the President?" Chloe told Agent Harrison. "If these people don't have their ducks in a row by now-"

"We've been trying to get into the inner files of half of Congress without getting caught," Harrison reminded the nervous tech. "And this isn't the kind of stuff they'd list on their websites."

"I'm just saying I could've gotten this done in the half the time," Chloe reminded her. "Besides, you've been promising we'd have answers an hour ago-"

Then Harrison got quiet. "Agent Harrison-"

"Bingo," she said weakly. "There's the committee record. Discussions between the majority leader and half of the committee heads . Matheson was about to accept the position of President pro tempore of the Senate."

"Uh, big fucking deal?" Chloe told her. "I remember my high school civics. It's the Congressional equivalent of a gold watch. It's meaningless."

"The Vice President is currently acting President," Harrison told her. "The Speaker's overseas. Which means right now he's the highest ranking man in the line of succession still in D.C. And now that Matheson is dead..." She pointed at the computer screen. "There it is, in black and white."

"All right," Chloe took out her phone. "Save this to a datafile. I'll start calling the people we need to."

"Don't you think three agents is a bit much?" Nadia asked as they finished loading the van.

"You didn't see the look on Scully's face when they met this afternoon," Vaughn told her.

"She just has to hold it together for twenty minutes," Nadia reminded him. "After that, she can find some other source for her aggression. Maybe Spender."

Just then, Edgar buzzed her. "Um, Nadia, we've got another issue in D.C.," he said hesitantly.

"Edgar, we're kind of drowning right now," Nadia told him.

"I know that," Edgar said, "but I have pretty good authority that this could be major."

"What authority?"

"Chloe O'Brian."

"Give me a minute," Nadia said reluctantly. She hadn't had the easiest relationship with her when they had been working in LA, but she couldn't deny that the woman was an ace at her job. "How did she get involved in this in the first place?" she asked.

"It's, um, kind of complicated," Edgar seemed a little more cowed than usual, "but if what she says is true, it has something to do with the higher-ups in the conspiracy."

Nadia walked over to the phone. "Chloe, this better be good," she said without preamble. "We gave you some work to do, and you've been off the map completely."

"You want to yell at me, or would you like to hear what I've been working on with Agent Harrison?" Chloe said, just as shortly.

"Our FBI contact?" Now Nadia was getting confused. "What does she have?"

"She says knows why Senator Matheson specifically was targeted," Chloe told her. "And setting up Mulder was only a secondary reason. We've found at least two bigger ones."

"We already know about Matheson's knowledge of this black oil."

"Well I know that _now_," Chloe told her. "Thanks for keeping me in the loop, by the way. I had to find that part of the conspiracy second-hand."

"Chloe, there's a lot going on here," Nadia was running out of patience.

"The Intelligence Committee," Chloe finally said. "Almost everything that Fox Mulder ever learned through Matheson came through the Intelligence Committee. Now the names keep changing with every election, and Matheson was getting up there, even for a Senator, so in order to alleviate his duties, he was about to take on the position of President pro tempore, in order to move from that position."

"So?"

"We found out which Senator was going to take his place on the committee," Chloe paused. "And it's the same person who might have had the means to arrange for Matheson's death."

"Who?"

Suddenly, there was a huge surge of feedback. "Hello? Chloe?"

Damn it," Chloe muttered. "What the hell happened to service..." Then she noticed that the lights in the restaurant were flickering. "What's going on?"

"I think," Harrison told her, "we have company." And with that, she hit the dirt.

Seconds later, a bullet hole appeared in the front window.

**10:13:18/**

**10:13:19/**

**10:13:20/**

**10:13:21**

There had only been three shots fired altogether and none for the last two minutes, but even a woman with as little field experience as Chloe knew this wasn't the end - whatever this was.

"How many of them do you think they'd send?" Agent Harrison whispered.

"To take out a techie and a glorified accountant?" Chloe countered. "Hopefully only two."

"They just fired in the front door of a crowded restaurant in the middle of the night," Harrison pointed out. "They didn't care about being subtle, and these people seem to believe in overkill."

Chloe knew this, even if she wasn't going to surrender the point. "And I'm guessing calling for backup is pretty much out of the question?"

"For all we know, two of D.C.'s finest just fired the shots." Harrison pointed out. "So I'll ask my original question; how do we get out of here?"

"Are you armed?" Chloe asked.

In answer, Harrison removed a Sig Sauer. "This may be a lousy time to mention it, but I've only fired my weapon twice in eight years, and both times the safety was on," she explained.

"And the sad part is? That's still more often then I've used mine," Chloe considered this, before pulling out the squeaky clean Magnum she'd carried through three different cities without using.. "Keep your head down, and try not to stand in front of me. We're going to the little girl's room."

The two would-be agents carefully made their way to the back of the restaurant where the ladies room was. "These people have probably been smart enough to station somebody at the back door," Chloe whispered. "I don't know why they haven't stormed the battlements yet, but let's just count our blessings. When we get to the back door, one of us will throw it open. You see anybody out there with a weapon, aim for the center mass, and run like hell."

"Better question," Harrison replied. "Once we get outside, where do we go from there? Because all of your friends are in New York, and I don't have a lot of friends in the Bureau."

This was an even greater problem, and Chloe had no immediate answer. "We're going to talk to someone with the authority to help us, and who won't throw us out the second they hear our names."

"Who? The Wizard of Oz?"

Chloe didn't answer immediately. "Let's just concentrate on surviving the next couple of minutes." For there they were. "You have the datafile?"

"Yes," Harrison was looking wary. "Which of us gets to fire on sight?"

"You're the one who's at least used her weapon," she pointed out. "Just remember to take off the safety." It didn't ease her nerves on bit to watch Harrison do just that - then make sure the gun was loaded. "On three?"

"One... two... two and a half... three!"

And Chloe threw the door open... to find a completely empty back alley. This did not assuage either woman's fears at all, but they had to keep going. Moving at a graduated snail's pace, they slowly moved out.

They had walked less than ten feet when a shot rang out. Harrison was fast, but not that quick, and the bullet hit her in the shoulder.

"RUN!" Chloe's shout could barely be heard over Agent Harrison's yowl of pain, but she didn't hesitate. "Head for the car!"

Three more shots in succession rang out, but amazingly, both women were fleet enough to manage to make it back to the car. Unfortunately, there was a man in a suit waiting outside the front door

Harrison was in no condition to shoot anyone, so Chloe fired twice. The recoil nearly caused her to double over, but one of the bullets hit the man in the arm. He fumbled his weapon which gave them enough time to get back in the vehicle.

They pulled out onto the dark street- destination unknown.

**10:19:46/**

**10:19:47/**

**10:19:48**

**Columbus Circle**

Mulder knew that Jeffrey Spender would probably be royally pissed and consider scratching the deal if he saw CTU anywhere near their location, but he had already seen both Sydney and Jack pissed off and, frankly, their kind of anger scared him more than anything that pissant had been able to pull off.

Reluctantly, he had put arranging the trade under their auspice, and had accepted that both Jack and Sydney would be onsite for Spender's arrival. Mulder was sure that they had no intention of honoring this deal, since he wasn't sure he wanted to go along with it, either. He had, however, managed to persuade them to make a couple of concessions.

He understood that they had to lead teams, but he wanted them as far away from the perimeter as possible, and make no attempt to grab Spender until he had gotten as much information out of him as he could. They had acquiesced to this demand so quickly, at which Mulder realized that this was SOP anyway, and that all he'd done was make himself look like an idiot.

Then he'd told Sydney that only he and Scully were to be present at the exchange, and that they were to stay invisible. He figured that Spender would probably have some kind of secret weapon up his sleeve, but he didn't think the man would be stupid enough to use it, even if he suspected that he was walking into a trap.

"There are a lot of people out there who would rather die then be kept captive," Sydney had told him.

"I know this son of a bitch," Mulder reminded them. "Believe me, Jeffrey Spender is not one of those people." This much he believed whole-heartedly.

Mulder had insisted on being let out a quarter of a mile short of the destination.

"If the man has access to surveillance, he's not going to be fooled by a cheap trick like that," Sydney countered.

"And how many of your protocols have you gone through with, even though you knew that they wouldn't follow through?" Mulder didn't want to hear the answer. "I'm wearing your earpiece; just give me some fucking latitude!"

He got out of the car about and started walking. He wasn't that far from Central Park, and even though it had been years since he had last been in the city, he had a pretty good idea where they would be meeting. It wasn't that far from the entrance to one of the statues. There was a lot of foliage and a lot of empty space. Hiding in that area wouldn't be easy; neither would be setting up a ready line of defense.

He assumed that Jack knew all this, and had contingency plans worked out. He wondered how much of this Spender was counting on.

And he was beginning to get tired of feeling like he was a rabbit walking into a snare

Sydney was starting to get tired of arguing with him, so she decided to follow through on her own end. "Jack, is your team in position yet?"

"Copy that," Jack told her. "We set up at the shopping center. I've got agents trying to seal off as much of the perimeter as possible, but there's a lot of territory here, and the lighting's not that great."

"What about satellite?" Sydney asked Nadia.

"We're working on it," her sister replied "Thermal imaging won't be a huge problem, but that's about the best we can do. It's going to take us way too long to reposition whatever we can get. That's assuming we even know where he's going to arrive from."

"How long are we going to let this scenario play out?" Jack asked. "I still think we should grab them all the second Spender comes into view."

"From what I got out of Mulder, the people Spender used to work for spent years as their own personal lab rat," Sydney replied. "I have no problem with you working your magic on him, but I think we may have to consider other options."

"I haven't even talked with the Vice President yet," Nadia replied. "Considering what's happened over the last few hours, he's probably not going to be anywhere near as forthcoming with backstopping this operation."

"So we don't really have a carrot or a stick," Sydney told them. "What the fuck are we going to do with this guy once we have him?"

"Let's just concentrate on landing this bastard," Jack replied. "We can worry about the rest when he's in our hands."

"Jack," Sydney asked, "what was that rifle I saw over your shoulder? You already have an assault weapon..."

Jack smiled. "Contingency plans."

"How many agents are on site?" Henderson demanded of his team leader.

"Estimate is six or seven. It's looking like there's maybe two, three cars altogether, with the estimated traditional armaments. No sign of Bauer or Bristow."

"Don't get cocky. I have no doubt they're nearby."

"How much time before we move in?" the squad leader asked.

"Wait until Mulder, Spender and Covarrubias are in the kill zone, then take them all out," Henderson ordered. "And remember, no matter what you see, nothing gets out alive."

**10:27:02/**

**10:27:03/**

**10:27:04/**

**10:27:05**

Mulder was as worried about this particular operation as anyone else, and it didn't help matters when Scully emerged, yanking Covarrubias behind her. Indeed, he was wondering whether the diplomat would survive the next few minutes considering the death stare she was being given.

"Did she give you anything on the way here?" he asked Scully.

"More of the same," Scully countered. "That Spender couldn't be allowed to fall into enemy hands; that he's important to the resistance, blah, blah, blah." She pushed Covarrubias. "Still claims that she has no idea what the endgame is."

"I'm telling the truth,' Covarrubias said frantically.

"You've done nothing but lie from the moment we met," Mulder pushed her. "I don't see why I should start believing you now."

"There is no protection you can offer me, except with Jeffrey."

"Pull the other one," Mulder demanded. "That rat couldn't protect his own mother from the government. How can he save us from alien colonization?"

"You're not the only one who's spent the last few years expanding his resources."

Nobody jumped at the new voice, but everybody- including Sydney- was unnerved, because it was like it had materialized out of the ether. Standing just out of sight was another shadowy figure.

"Is that really you, Spender?" Mulder whispered. "How do I know it's not another deception?"

In answer, the figure walked under a streetlight. This time, they had a different reason to jump. The last time any of them had seen Jeffrey Spender, his face had been so lined with scars that it had been unrecognizable. Now there were rows and rows of stitches, and his hair was prematurely gray, but his face looked a lot closer to the agent that had been shot in the basement office nearly a decade ago. "I've had some work done, but then, so did a lot of people my father worked with," he replied. His voice was a lot less hoarse too.

"That's not exactly encouraging," Scully replied.

"Enough," Mulder said. "Why did you call for this meeting? Why do you want her?"

"Because in the next couple of hours, this crisis will escalate," Jeffrey Spender replied, "and I need Marita's help in order to stop them. I know you're working with the government again; let me assure you, they can't help you stop this."

"And who can?" Scully said in disbelief.

"The same person Mulder's been looking for since he was fourteen. The person who started his search for the truth." Jeffrey looked at him. "You give me Marita back; I'll take you to your sister."

"What the hell is this?" Jack muttered. "More family-"

Then everyone's attention was drawn towards Mulder as he kicked Spender in the crotch.

"Do we move in now?" Sydney demanded. "This is going to get ugly."

"Let's see if he gives us anything else."

Spender didn't seem at all discomfited by Mulder's attack; if anything, he seemed a bit amused. "Now that you've gotten that out of your system, maybe we can talk like civilized people?" Spender asked as he regained his feet.

"About what?" Scully replied. "We all know Samantha's been dead for decades.

"And what exactly are you basing that on?" Spender actually had the nerve to be indignant. "Me, that's what. At Mulder's trial. It wouldn't have helped to tell the truth. Besides, that would have endangered her safety, which was the last thing he needed to worry about."

"Samantha is dead," Mulder said slowly. "She died in 1981."

Spender chuckled. "The only evidence you had was a 'vision,' during great emotional distress, and severe _brain disease_. You're supposed to reign him in when he makes these leaps, Scully; none of this crossed your mind? I guess you've fallen so down the rabbit hole with him, you've lost your perspective."

Scully blinked. She didn't have a ready answer. Why _had _she just accepted Mulder's word that Samantha was dead? Was it because she was go grateful to know that Mulder had removed the monkey that had been on his back as long as she had known him? "How long have you known she's been alive?" she countered.

"In case you've forgotten, I spent a fair amount of my childhood with Samantha," Spender reminded her. "Of course, I didn't know who she was at the time. I didn't realize how important she was after I disappeared and was presumed dead."

"Apparently that happens more frequently than you'd imagine," Mulder said in a manufactured calm. "Three of us should form a club. This is incredible. Why are you doing this? Out of some twisted sense of brotherhood?"

"Is that why you're pissed?" Spender asked. "Would it make you feel any better if I told you we're not related?"

_Now _Mulder's eyebrow did twitch. "I'm so tired of the Spender line of bullshit."

"That we agree on," Spender said. "The bastard lied to you all your life, Mulder. About everybody and everything. What makes you think he'd tell the truth about this?"

"I was there when they ran the DNA on your blood," Scully countered.

"You're a doctor, Scully," Spender told her. "Even a blood relative wouldn't have an exact genetic match. And after two years of being tested on by that son of a bitch, I know ways to get around lab work."

And for the first time in awhile, both Mulder and Scully were gobsmacked. They had accepted certain fundamental things as true over the partnership, and now it seemed that one of the principles they had agreed to over the last decade seemed to be lies. Jeffrey Spender might not be the most credible of men, but compared to his father, he was a bastion of integrity.

"As fascinating as this, I don't think it helps us on the bigger picture," Sydney replied. "Time to move in."

"I hear you," Jack touched his earpiece. "Team A, prepare to move in."

There was no sound of authentication. "Team A, respond," Jack was getting a sinking feeling about this. "All agents move in-"

Then a shot rang out and the air was filled with hostile gunfire.

**10:35:28/**

**10:35:29/**

**10:35:30/**

**10:35:31**

Two of Jack's team were down before the order was complete, and he knew they had a security leak of tremendous proportions to deal with later on.

Jack filed it away and barked, "Mulder! Scully! Get the hell out of there!" Normally, he wouldn't have bothered with the warning, but there had been a definite deer in the headlights look in both of their eyes.

Despite the fact that she was out of practice, Sydney found that the skill of dodging enemy fire was not one that had ever left her. Certainly she was doing a better job than some of her team. She dove behind a parked car. "Nadia, are you getting this?" she shouted into her earpiece. "We need reinforcements now!"

Then three shots came awfully closer. Sydney bobbed and weaved, and managed to return a fair about of fire, but by the time she remembered to resume communications, her earpiece was no longer where it should be.

Essentially, she was cut off from her team. Fortunately, she was used to it.

Jack leapt through the window of Tourneau in the Columbus shopping mall, hoping to get the position on one of the key snipers. As he hit the ground rolling, he snapped off two shots...

The exact moment that the entire store turned into a giant fireball, consuming all of his men. With a loud "Damnit!" he dove across the street, around the Columbus square traffic circle, an island in the street filled with enough flora to provide him cover—until someone managed to reload whatever projectile had just wiped out his entire team.

Jack could see there were at least one woman dead in the middle of the street... he hoped like hell it was Covarrubias. "Where's the goddamn thermal imaging?" he shouted into his earpiece.

"There are at least half a dozen men still on the ground," Nadia was sounding even more worried then Jack felt. "They're moving in a pincer formation; you don't get out of there in the next two minutes, you'll be dead!"

"There's nowhere to fall back to!" Jack argued. "How far out is backup?"

"Jack," Nadia was starting to sound panicked herself. "there's no way they'll reach you in time. Run!"

Even while they had been speaking, Jack had noticed the sounds of gunfire were getting closer. He popped up, firing twice, dropping another assailant.

He was answered with a hail of gunfire.

Jack growled to himself. That was stupid. He briefly considered the rifle over his shoulder, but that would be even less use. He reached for his pouch, coming up with two grenades. He put his gun to the side, then pulled out the pins with his teeth, flipping the spoons out... on a count of three, he hurled both of them, one in each direction.

With the explosions, he swept up with his assault weapon, firing on full automatic in short bursts, one to the front, another behind. He ducked down again before he had more problems on his hands.

"Hold!" one of them screamed out. "Go for the others."

Bauer paused. There was something off about the voice. Something cold and too calm for the situation. He looked around a tree he was using for cover, and noted the one who ordered the others to move. He was a well built, large man, with the front of his tactical gear ripped away. He had been at the forefront of the explosion. And despite the absurdity of it all, only one thought came to mind...

_Alien bounty hunter._

Sydney cursed to herself as the remaining troops converged on her position. They were even sweeping around Bauer's position to go after her. They obviously knew what the bounty hunter was capable of.

And she was stuck on the other side of the street, away from the traffic circle, with a few of her own CTU unit left in tatters.

The teams swept into the intersection...and without any warning, a large, armored car smashed into them, scattering the formation like a set of bowling pins.

The car drove through them, then made a sharp right turn, fishtailing into a one-eighty. The window rolled down, and gunfire rang out from it, cutting into the attackers.

Whoever this was couldn't have come at a better time, which made Syd suspicious. She had experience with 'rescues' like this, as did Jack. However, right now she didn't have much choice. She was down to her last clip for the rifle and she had only six shots left in her Glock

Then two of the gunmen finally moved into her line of sight - at last, something she could aim at. Carefully she aimed for the center mass on one, but it barely slowed him down.

_Body armor. These guys think of everything._ She abruptly changed tactics and tried to aim for the head Three bullets managed to erase most of the man's face. He dropped like a stone. But she had scarce time to notice this before she sensed a gun at the back of her head.

"Drop the weapon," the gunman said quietly.

"Why?" Sydney asked. "I'm pretty sure Henderson doesn't want you taking prisoners. Or are you just starting to realize this isn't what you signed up for?"

The gunman considered this for a few seconds. Unfortunately, the conclusion that he came to was not favorable, as he promptly slammed her in the shoulder with his rifle butt. Her reaction was slow, and her rifle fell to the ground.

"Game's over," he said.

A split second later, two shots rang out. The gunmen looked surprised, then fell.

To reveal the face of John Doggett, from inside a CTU Hummer. "What are you waiting for, a written invitation?" he shouted to her.

Sydney needed no second bidding. "You're the backup?" she asked as she ran to the car.

Doggett shook his head. "Nadia told me that Jeffrey Spender was in play. I took some people from Omnicron, and hauled ass over here," He looked around. "Is this fucking mess his handiwork?"

Sydney shook her head. "This is the definition of overkill," she told him. "This screams black ops. Henderson is probably the one behind it."

"Well, then maybe we'll get lucky."

Sydney was about to ask what the fuck he meant by that when she heard something else going wrong.

Jack knew he was in trouble. The alien bounty hunter from before had given Sydney a hell of a lot of difficulty, and he didn't want to imagine what would be in store for him.

But he had a plan.

Seeing that this attacker didn't have a gun, he broke for the nearest car. He had parked it by the traffic circle—a simple sedan, nothing flashy—and had it started in seconds. He revved the engine, backed it up, then pumped the engine again, letting it rip.

By the time he had the car pointed at the target, he was going at a solid sixty miles per hour. He had been doing seventy by the time the front bumper hit the bounty hunter.

The alien didn't budge. It merely looked down at the bumped wrapped around it as though it were an annoyance.

Jack, who had been buckled in and braced for impact, was out of the car within seconds. The bounty hunter's laugh followed him as he dove back into the traffic circle, behind the biggest tree there...

And Jack hit the remote detonator in his right pocket.

The laughter cut off when the car exploded with C-8 explosive, turning the whole car into shrapnel.

The alien staggered backwards by a whole three feet.

Bauer wheeled around the cover, firing twice into the alien. It staggered back five steps this time, blinking at the holes in it's chest. Jack smiled, bringing the scope of his rifle up to his eye. He fired once at the neck, taking the whole head off.

A growl from behind him warned him too late as a giant hand knocked the gun away from him, then grabbed him, hauling up off his feet. Jack grunted, holding his breath immediately.

He should have known that there would have been an alien with the second line of attackers. Henderson was always thorough.

Jack came up with a line of cord from around his waste, whipping it around the alien's tree trunk-like neck. It blinked, frowned, then tossed him aside, wondering what the annoyance had collared him with.

The explosion took its head right off.

Syd blinked at the sound of helicopters. "The cavalry finally made it," she said. "Let's see if we can clean up this mess. Maybe figure out what the fuck is going on."

**10:40:40/**

**10:40:41/**

**10:40:42**

After years, UN bureaucrat Covarrubias was finally beyond the help of modern medicine—being shot in the chest and head would do that. Almost miraculously, Scully had managed to emerge almost untouched from the attack.

Mulder and Spender were nowhere to be found.

"How many of them were there?" Sydney demanded one of the newly arrived agents.

"We've found thirteen dead. We're running IDs of them now "

"It'll be a waste of time," Jack was steaming. "It's Omnicron. What's more important is that we find out who the leak in CTU is."

"Jack, do I have to remind you that you've personally vouched for almost everybody we've got working for us?" Nadia was trying to remain calm, but she was nearly as livid.

"They were professionally armed with the mission to kill everybody in the field," Jack told her. "It was Henderson."

"Screw that!" Right now, Scully looked even more frightening then the battalion of killers that they had just finished fighting. "Mulder told me to get to cover, and to stay low. After that, he started yelling at Spender. I would have taken better notes, but I couldn't hear over the bullets flying overhead. But he's _gone_ damnit, and you have to find him!"

Scully wasn't going to be a big help, so Jack turned his attention to Doggett. "Did you get anything useful out of Omnicron?"

For a moment Doggett looked at Jack as if he were crazy, then decided to plow ahead despite of it. "Your friend Henderson did a good job cleaning up after himself," he told her. "He's been planning this for awhile. Your guy Marshall, he's going through the data now, but I'd say we've got next to no chance of getting anything of value out of these offices."

"Not to be rigid, but who cares?" Scully argued. "You had a great lead literally within your grasp, and you completely dropped the ball. And by the way, what exactly are you going to do in order to find Mulder?"

"Everything that we can," Sydney tried to sound confident, but she wasn't very surprised that Scully practically ignored her.

"Right now, I'm not convinced you could find water in a swimming pool," she argued.

"We could start by calling him," Doggett mentioned casually. "I'm assuming that he hasn't had enough time yet to change his phone number on us."

"I'll do it," Scully replied. "You think your people are competent enough to trace a phone call?"

Jack wanted to respond to this, but realized that this conflagration had probably just erased all of the good will he had built up with the ex FBI agents. He knew he wouldn't trust them under these circumstances.

It only took two rings before he picked up. "Scully, are you okay?" he said instantly.

"Mulder, thank God you're alright." Scully answered. "Where are you?"

"Where do you think?" Mulder replied. "I've gone with Spender."

Scully swallowed. "Mulder, he can't be trusted."

"He knows that I don't," Mulder admitted. "But right now, he's the best chance to figuring out what the hell is going on. Besides, he hasn't tried to kill me yet."

"Has he told you where you're going?" Scully asked.

There was a pause. "Yes," Mulder's tone changed. "I assume that whatever's left of CTU is listening to this phone call."

"They are."

"Put me on speaker."

"Mulder-"

"Do it." Scully hit the button.

"I should've gone with my first instinct," he said coolly.

"Mulder, whatever you're thinking-" Sydney began.

"Twenty years of not trusting the government, and I go right to them the second they start offering me bright, shiny toys." Any restraint Mulder had in his voice was gone; in it's place was white-hot anger. "I give you everything I've ever learned, and you drop the ball over and over. Monica's dead, you nearly got me and Scully killed, and you've completely blown every lead we had on this conspiracy!"

"Mulder, you don't stand a chance of stopping these people on your own!" Jack interrupted.

"Well, I've had noluck stopping them _with _your help, so I'll think I'll see what's behind Door Number One," Mulder spat out. "Now I realize you're not the kind of people who can let these things go, so I imagine our paths will cross again very soon. But as far as I'm concerned, you've got no more pull with me. So as far as I'm concerned, I've just gone dark!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Sydney told them.

"I'll get in touch with you, Scully," Mulder assured his partner. "but don't try to find me as long as you're with them. They've done enough damage as it is."

With that the signal cut out. When Scully tried to dial again, she received an automated message saying the number was no longer responding.

Mulder had just told them he preferred the enemy over CTU.

**10:50:26/**

**10:50:27/**

**10:50:28**

"Any more brilliant ideas?" Scully argued. "And if they involve trying to find Mulder, I'm clearing out too."

"All that's going to do is get him killed," Sydney replied.

"How is that different from what just happened?" Scully argued. "You may be even more off the grid than Mulder was, but right now, it's looking like your approach hasn't done us much good either. So give me a reason why I shouldn't walk right out after him!"

"Because I think I know who leaked your location to Henderson,"Nadia finally spoke up. "Edgar just finished a sweep of CTU's communications grid.. Buried so deeply anyone else would have missed it was a micro-transmitter. It's been operating out of the communications grid for awhile."

"We couldn't have found this out sooner?" Doggett snarled.

"We have any idea who placed it?" Jack demanded.

"The list of suspects isn't that long," Nadia replied. "and right now, I'd say that the most likely one is Peyton Ritter."

There was a pause. "If this is supposed to impress me, it's not," Scully finally answered. "He was in your office for hours. If you're only now coming to the realization he might have been dirty-"

"We've been kind of busy cleaning up all of these major attacks," Sydney was starting to lose her cool too. "Up until now, we've had no reason to track down any of them."

"Better late than never?"

Sydney, after half a day of putting up with snide remarks, paranoid comments, and "I know better than you" bullshit, spun, a backhand coming up without a thought. The other hand came up in a Bauer-like choke grip on Scully's throat, backing her up against a wall. "Listen to me, you bitch," Sydney started, low and deadly, "I have had enough of you, and Mulder, and your conspiracies. I lost a man who had been my partner for longer than you'd been on the run, and that was how my day _started_. Since we've met you, we've been playing catch-up. We've taken almost all of the risks while you and Mulder have sat back and said 'I told you so.' We've gotten farther in twelve hours than you two did in _decades_, and you're _bitching_ to us? How about you go back into the hole we found you in, and save us the trouble of pulling your ass out of the fire again!"

Sydney released her before one of the others were tempted to haul her off.

"And I thought that only guys got involved in measuring contests," Doggett said under his breath. He sighed, then shook his head, and paused, looking at Bauer. "Jack, you mind explaining what happened back there?"

Jack blinked. "What?"

"You did just take out two alien bounty hunters by yourself, right? What kind of guy rigs a car with explosives to use as a _distraction_ and a setup for a kill shot?"

Sydney, trying to calm down, nodded. "Exactly. What were you thinking?"

Jack looked at Sydney. "You remember how Kim would play chess with Marshall, and win? I taught her. And I think more than three moves ahead."

Doggett looked at the rifle. "What is that? A sawed off sniper rifle?"

Jack nodded. "A .50-caliber Galil sniper rifle, with depleted uranium rounds. The type they use to take out tanks."

"And the second one?"

"Detcord—it could take out a tree, so, a neck wasn't too far off." He tapped his earpiece again. "Nadia, anything on Ritter?"

"Tracking him hasn't exactly been much of a priority," Nadia replied.

"How much effort would it take to find him?" Doggett asked.

"John, you can't be telling me that you're going along with this," Scully replied.

"I realize how personal this is for Mulder and you," Doggett replied. "but it became personal for me less than two hours ago. I want to find Henderson and Follmer and stop whatever other madness they've got planned for later. Right now, our best chance at stopping these lunatics is locating Ritter, and I'm going to do it." His stone face showed signs of real pain. "With or without your help."

There was a very long pause. Sydney would have bet every dollar in her pocket that Scully was going to say, "The hell with all of you," and start chasing after the man she'd spent the last seven years with. Which is why she was considerably shocked when Scully replied. "How do we do this?"

"You don't want to find him?" Sydney replied.

"As someone who's spent half her life chasing her partner down all over the country," Scully replied, "I can tell you that when Mulder wants to stay hidden, he can do a goddamn better job than the one-armed man- and we've actually had to find one of them on occasion. When he wants to turn up, we'll find him. I have no doubt of that." She hesitated. "Besides, I know as well as you that you placed some kind of tracer him in the last couple of hours. After all, it's what you people do," Scully's voice was even colder.

Jack scoffed. "Given the last time he decided to jump ship... in the middle of a firefight... I thought it might be a good idea. Tagging dumb animals is something vets do all the time."

Scully's eyes narrowed. "I'll play along if you respect Mulder's wishes, because you owe him... Besides," she muttered. "I've never properly thanked Ritter for shooting me in the stomach."

Mulder was pretty sure he'd never let Sydney or Jack touch him, which was why he was amazed to find the tracer on the underside of his watch. "I've found it," he told Spender. "Should I throw it out the window?"

"Not yet," Spender told him as they drove onward. "Soon enough, we'll be going somewhere they won't be able to follow."

**10:59:57/**

**10:59:58/**

**10:59:59/**

**11:00:00**


	16. 11:00 PM TO 12:00 AM

**Chapter 15**

The Following Takes Place Between 11:00 P.M. and 12:00 A.M.

"How exactly do we lure this particularly fox into the henhouse?" Doggett asked. "Do we even know where Ritter is?"

"When we dropkicked him out, we didn't exactly exchange business cards," Nadia reminded them. "And I'm guessing that he's doing his damnedest to stay invisible."

"He could have just gone back to his office," Scully replied. "It took you this long to find a connection between him and Henderson in the first place. Maybe he feels his position and your lack of competence is enough to keep him safe."

Syd decided not to waste time arguing. "Are we even sure that Ritter would know where these people are?" she asked instead. "He might just be another bureaucrat trying to insulate the conspirators."

"Right now, he's our best lead-"

"No, our best lead just went off with Mulder," Sydney reminded them. "And we do know where he's going, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to figure out what the fuck these people are up to."

She braced for impact from Scully's wrath...she didn't get it. Dragging Mulder's ass back in after he got into trouble must have been something Scully thought she was over and done with. "Try not to hurt him," was all Scully said. "Much."

Sydney wasn't going to make any promises she couldn't keep. "Nadia, send the location of Mulder's tracker to my GPS, " she said as she got into her car.

Jack was turning to Doggett, when suddenly his phone rang. "This is Bauer."

"Where the hell have you been?" Chloe demanded.

"This isn't a good time," Jack began.

"Fine. I'll call back when people aren't shooting at me."

Jack put her on speaker. "Didn't you hook up with Agent Harrison?"

"Yeah. And tell your sister-in-law thanks a bunch for getting me involved," she told them. "Two hours analyzing data, and just when we're on the verge of finding something, people start trying to kill us in spades. We're on the run, and I've got nowhere that's safe...Only Edgar knew what we were doing in the first place. And if he's leaking information-"

"It's more likely that someone's been tapped into our server," he told her.

'I repeat; thanks a bunch," Chloe answered. "Look, they shot Agent Harrison, and I have no doubt they're going to keep chasing us. We need a place to hide out, and I'm guessing neither CTU nor the Bureau is the safest place for us to be. Any ideas?"

"Do you have any idea why they're chasing you in the first place?" he asked.

"Harrison thinks she knows who was helping orchestrate everything that has been going on today," Chloe told them. "And she looks like she's about to pass out from shock. I've been driving around the mall for the last twenty minutes, but I'm not you or Sydney. Whoever's chasing me is going to catch me."

"You need to go to head out towards Georgetown to Rhode Island Avenue. Once there, find 39 Silver Place. CTU set up roadblocks going in and out of the capital after the attempt on the President's life," Jack reminded her. "He won't be able to go anywhere for awhile. Plus I'll call and tell him what's coming."

_"I _don't know what's coming," Chloe countered. "And he's already at risk."

"Right now, he's your best option. When you're set up, call us again, but only from one of his phones."

"I think this even more dangerous than one of your plans, Jack," Chloe told him, "but seeing as it's all we have, I'll do it. I'm hanging up before the Enterprise comes and beams us off the road."

**11:05:31/**

**11:05:32/**

**11:05:33**

Nadia knew that part of being head of CTU was taking the heat for your field agents when things went wrong, and right now she was living through this particular nightmare She had been expected calls from Division and the other security agencies. Instead, she had just been read page two of the riot act by acting President Prescott.

Eventually, though, he came to rest in their weak spot- Fox Mulder, and why CTU was taking its leads from the research of a known enemy to the country. When she'd tried to tell him that his claims had been substantiated, Prescott asked what proof they had that Mulder hadn't blown up the Hoover Building, something they still couldn't prove otherwise.

It concluded with a warrant for Mulder's arrest.

And with that Prescott hung up. Any minute now, every law enforcement agency in the country would be looking for Mulder, and they'd be a lot less concerned for his safety than Jack and Sydney were.

Edgar then walked up to Nadia. "Please tell me we have a location on Mulder."

"He's been heading toward midtown, but-" Edgar hesitated. "For the last minute or so, his tracer has him stationary. It's possible he's dumped the tracker...and I got a text from Marshall telling me we may have somebody trying to hack into the datastream in LA."

"Put him on," she told him. "And reconfigure whatever traffic cams you can on the tracer's last locations. Let's see if we can at least figure out what car this guy is driving. And get that information to Sydney."

"Marshall," she told him. "Everything that can possibly go wrong is going wrong. Please tell me how someone has managed to hack into a system that's got better protection then the Federal Reserve."

"I wish I could tell you," Marshall replied. "It's kind of creepy. Outside of CTU, there isn't a hacker alive who should be able to get into system without the proper algorithm. And right now, every time I try to shift the data, it's taking this guy less than three minutes to shift his hack to catch up with me."

_Marshall at a loss for words That's a circle of hell Dante never imagined. _"Can you at least backtrace the hack?"

"I'm working on it," Marshall told her, "but he seems to be bouncing it off every satellite and server imaginable. Everything your average hacker shouldn't be able to do, he's doing."

**11:10:52/**

**11:10:53/**

**1****1:10:54/**

**11:10:55**

Spender tired of Mulder demanding answers on this or that, and sighed. "How well do you remember the jury at your trial?"

"You never forget the faces of people who condemn you to die," Mulder remarked glibly.

"Then why didn't you start panicking on Inauguration Day?" Spender rolled his eyes, took out his cell, and punched a number. "I know there was a time that nobody in America knew what the Vice President did, but we live in the information superhighway now." He showed the picture. "Do I need to start using smaller words too?"

A deep chill ran through Mulder's bones. The man on the screen was familiar to him - he had been one of the jurors of the trial. The same trial where at one point Gibson Praise had told the jurors flat out that one wasn't human. "The Vice President\?"

"That supersoldier program that had Doggett's underwear in a twitch the last few years of the X-Files- it had nothing to do with the aliens you and Scully spent seven years chasing," Spender replied. "It was separate project, using sciences we developed during the Cold War, designed to replaces key figures in the military and the U.S government. The project had been under private supervision finally was unearthed. Senator Matheson found about it- that's one of the reasons they killed him."

"They've performed the intergalactic version of coup d'etat!" Mulder was starting to get exasperated. "What else can they do?"

"You only know who's involved. You don't know how they're going to do it, or how to stop them." Spender parked the car. "We're here."

"Here" seemed to be the Warehouse District, or maybe it just felt that way. "Christ, it's always fucking warehouses, isn't it?" Fox mumbled. At least this one had bright lights in the windows and was freshly painted. It also had security cameras located at right angles surrounding the building. _Looks like I'm digging in the right place._

Spender walked up to the front door, and pulled back a lever to reveal a retinal scanner. He pressed his eye to it, then pressed his thumb against a similar metallic pad. Finally he entered some numbers into a keypad. "This is it," he told Mulder. "Just remember, all I promised you was the truth."

"Aren't you supposed to produce a red pill and a blue pill with that line?" Mulder jibed. No reaction. "Maybe you missed that movie while they were torturing you."

The doors very slowly opened.

Sydney broke all speed records traveling to every landmark on the route Mulder and Spender were taking to God-knows-where. The fact that they might be leading Mulder into a trap was only of small concern to her, nor was she completely surprised when halfway through her trek, Edgar informed her that the tracer had been discarded.

By that time, CTU had managed to coordinate traffic cams to nail down the vehicle they were driving in - a midnight blue Cadillac. They were still working on the license plate, but they had enough ability to use traffic cams to keep an eye on the vehicle.

"We've got to assume that Spender's going to take him somewhere he has backup," Nadia replied. "So what exactly is the plan to get Mulder back?"

"Right now, the lead is Spender," Sydney replied. "The goal is going to be get him. Mulder just dropped down to an incidental."

"That's kind of cold, considering that we've gotten almost everything with his help," Nadia said coolly.

"It was Mulder's decision to go rogue," Sydney argued. "And quite frankly, I'm beginning to see why the FBI got so pissed at him when he was there."

"Well, now you know how the other half lives," Nadia countered.

Not willing to admit that she was right, Sydney just told them. "Get me the last location of the car," she said. "We'll worry about the enemy when we know whether or not they have antennae."

The warehouse was...disappointing; filled with several glass fishing tanks that he had seen so many times before- green liquid, bodies within, large tubes protruding through holes. _More of the conspiracy's greatest hits _he thought.

And he kept thinking that until he wiped away some of the condensation that was fogging the glass. The figure was not male- it was a woman. It was an adult version of Samantha Mulder. This was horrifying, but Mulder really was a child of Pandora. Forgetting for the first time about Spender, he went to one of the adjacent tanks and repeated the process. This time, the figure was male, and that photographic memory needed less than ten seconds before he placed it. It was one of the Kurt Crawford's, a hybrid clone he had met while searching for a cure for Scully's cancer more than a decade ago. "What in holy hell have you been doing?" he whispered harshly

"What is necessary."

Mulder whirled around at the sound of the voice. "This is how you fight a war?" he demanded.

"And what would you know about?" the new woman said. "All you've ever done is pick up the pieces. Testify at some subcommittee hearing, trespass on government property, or lead the wolf directly to our door."

Now Mulder looked from side to side. There were several people emerging from the shadows- but they only bore two faces, Samantha's and Kurt Crawford. _Send in the clones _the smart-ass part of his brain muttered. _Don't bother, they're here._

The Samantha who was standing at the front of the pack didn't answer. Instead, she put her hand in her pocket and removed a pin. Without any warning, she drove it into her left thumb. Before Mulder could even react, he suddenly realized the point of the demonstration - a small stream of red blood was pooling.

"That doesn't mean much," he heard himself say.

"The last time I saw you," the woman went on. "I lied to you. I said that the Smoking Man was my father. For that much, I'm sorry."

Every conceivable emotion flowed through Mulder at that moment as a lifetime of work had finally led to the realization of a lifelong dream. "Samantha?" he said.

"I also said I never wanted to see you again," she continued.

A moment later an electric shock ran through Mulder's body. He collapsed in a heap. "Why couldn't you have listened to me, Fox?"

**11:19:02/**

**11:19:03/**

**11:19:04/**

**11:19:05**

Peyton Ritter had known that the call from the mercenary had to be some kind of bluff. He had taken the call for less than twenty seconds before hanging up, not nearly long enough to complete a trace Bauer was going to come looking for him, and he had no intention of being in CTU's possession when the hammer fell.

He had gotten out of his office and had started tearing ass towards the George Washington Bridge. He hadn't observed any watch on his building, but less than five minutes into his trip, he was pretty sure that he was being followed. Fortunately, he was on a busy expressway and knew enough on how to lose the tail.

"Damn it," Jack swore, "He's made us."

"Seriously?" Scully replied. "I wouldn't have thought the son of a bitch could spot a tail from a mile off."

"What are you saying? He knew we were coming?" Jack replied.

"They've managed to stay one step ahead of us for most of today; I don't see why Ritter should be any different."

Noting that Scully's attitude was becoming blatantly insubordinate, he radioed Nadia. "Ritter seems to have a bead on us. I think we need to move to our backup. How long until he intercepts?"

"At your current rate of speed, less than thirty seconds."

Ritter managed to put several carlengths between him and Jack's car, and he was having trouble keeping up. Eventually, though, they reached the turnoff near the Hudson Tunnel. The light remained red twenty seconds longer than it should've.

Ritter had moved so quickly that he had forgotten that his bureau car was tapped into a GPS. They had been tracking it like this from the moment he had started running. Now Doggett, who had been running parallel to him for the last ten minutes, came down from the side route and rammed into his back door.

"This is going to be messy," Jack told Scully as he closed the gap. "Now that we've caught up with him, you had better have the stomach for what comes next."

"I'm a doctor, remember?" Scully told him. "If you break something, I can tell you about how long it takes before the damage becomes too serious."

_She'd better stay on that path_

Ritter finally managed to get his door open after several unsuccessful attempts to get the engine working- just in time to run right into Doggett.

"We should really exchange insurance information," he told Ritter as he grabbed his arm. "That car might survive you by quite a bit at this rate."

"I want to make a deal, " Ritter seemed to realize that he didn't have much time left.

"There's no deal," Doggett told him, throwing him at Jack's SVU. "You're going to have to talk with him, and considering how many of his people you killed," Doggett slammed him into the front door. "I don't think that he's inclined to be reasonable."

Jack opened the door. "I don't want to hear any excuses or dodging," he said, as he reached into his pocket. "Where is Christopher Henderson?"

"I don't know," Ritter was in pure panic mode. "I've never been in the same room with him. And the minute the Columbus Circle attack failed, I became a liability. Henderson's going to move heaven and earth to make sure he doesn't need me anymore."

Jack took out his knife and held it to Ritter's throat. "You're of even less value to us if you don't talk," he whispered. "If you don't start giving us useful information in the next ten seconds, I'm going to carve your eyes out of your head, and feed them to the cockroaches."

He began to push his knife towards Ritter's eyes. When they were less than a centimeter away, Ritter finally broke. "All right, all right!" he whispered. "I can tell you how to find Follmer. He'll know where Henderson is, as well as everybody higher up on the hierarchy. He was operating mainly out of Brooklyn, prepared for contingencies. I'll give you the address-"

"That won't be necessary," Doggett took out his cell. "You're going to make sure he meets us there."

**11:30:29/**

**11:30:30/**

**11:30:31**

At that very moment, Mulder was regaining consciousness and was finding himself in a familiar position - being restrained and under heavy guard. The first face that he saw was Spender's, and despite his condition, he tried to squirm free

"You're wasting your time," Spender told him. "They've been spending years restraining aliens; you really think you've got a chance to break loose?"

Mulder now observed that he was surrounded by several small women and young boys, and they weren't strangers either. They were the young Samantha's and boys he had encountered when Jeremiah Smith had taken him to that colony hub in Canada over thirteen years ago. "This is what you've been working on all this while?" he asked rhetorically. "Maybe I've been wasting my time."

The drones- for lack of a better word- had been incapable of speech when Mulder had last seen them. So it came as something of a shock when one spoke to him. "Who are you to mock our work?" the young boy said.

It had been a long day and Mulder was having trouble maintaining his poker face. "You can talk?" he said stupidly. "When? How?"

Spender looked at him. " We've been working on this for awhile," she replied. "The genetic maps have been in them for decades. We just had to find the right key. And somehow Samantha, the real Samantha, found it."

Samantha spoke then, talking to him, but not looking at him. "Every time you thought you were making a move to help, you were showing them what we were trying to hide. Some truths are never meant to be revealed for a reason."

Mulder couldn't help himself. "Does everybody who knows the truth have to talk like Caine on _Kung Fu?_" Wisely he didn't wait for an answer. "I'm not the fucking enemy!"

"You were going to tell people what you found."

It wasn't a question but Mulder answered anyway. The fact that he didn't answer instantly would have come as a shock to Scully or Doggett. "Yes."

"Once exposed, we'd be exterminated by the people who want us dead. You know how many of them are, and how ruthless they are. Do we really look like we can defend ourselves against an army?"

Mulder blinked. In all the years spent looking for The Truth, he'd never considered what happened if he ever found it. Like the dog chasing a bus, what would he do then should the dog get it? He was beginning to wonder what happened if he did bring a flying saucer to the White House and had an alien shake hands with the President. Every major source to help him expose the truth was dead save for two, and only because they had faked their own deaths. For the first time, he wondered just how much blood was on his hands. All his efforts to protect his family and friends had pretty much been for shit, and the very fact that he was here was because the government was invested in this.

"What's your answer, Fox?" Samantha asked again.

"In that case, what is the question?" Mulder countered. No reaction- apparently alien clones didn't read Gertrude Stein.

"We're willing to let you go," Samantha said, "but you've got to help clean up this mess that you've helped make."

Spender walked over to a monitor. He pressed a button that revealed a wide exterior shot of the warehouses. Another button was pushed and the camera zoomed in- to reveal the figure of Sydney. Apparently, his instructions not to follow her had fallen on deaf ears.

"This is your mess," Spender told him bluntly. "Start mopping."

**11:37:08/**

**11:37:09/**

**11:37:10/**

**11:37:11**

Nadia was beginning to feel that might have a chance of turning things around. Syd had managed to locate Mulder and was in the process of trying to narrow down which warehouse he was hiding in. She told her sister to hold off sending in backup until she had a clearer idea of what they were up against. Considering that Jack and the FBI contingent had managed to grab Peyton Ritter, and that they were pretty sure Ritter would lead them to Follmer, she thought that she had some time to deal with old business.

"Marshall, where are you on whoever's trying to tap into the datastream?" she asked.

"I've managed to put up a couple of miniature firewalls that'll buy us some time," For the first time in awhile, Nadia could hear a definite sound of foreboding in his voice. "But whoever these people are - and I know I never say this- they're better than I am, and it's only, um, a matter of time before these people get complete access."

Great. Another miniature disaster. "Marshall, do you have any idea who this guy is?" she asked slowly.

"No, but I think I know where the hack is coming from," Marshall told him. "Omnicron has an office is LA, right?"

"Under my directives, CTU LA led a raid on their offices four hours ago," Nadia replied. "They did a sweep from top to bottom, and I'm pretty sure if someone was trying to hack your hard drive, they would've yanked them out of the building."

"That's not what I was thinking," Marshall countered. "See, I managed to do a reverse directory search on where this hack was coming from. This guy's good enough to stay hidden, but there was just enough margin for me to narrow down the search to within an eight-block radius."

Nadia frowned. "He masterminds a hack that you can't get around, but leaves a trace signature to isolate his location?"

"The discrepancy crossed my mind, too. I've got a theory." Marshall told her. "I think whoever did this is doing against their will. Someone wants into this data, and is holding whoever these people are prisoner in order to get it. This guy's obviously clever enough to cover his tracks, but he leaves breadcrumbs so that someone who knows where to look can trace him."

Nadia considered this for a few seconds. "Marshall, how long will it take before they infiltrate the feed?" she finally asked.

" I'm guessing half an hour at the most."

"Do whatever you can to keep them out," Nadia said. "I'll see if I can narrow down their location."

She hung up, and dialed another number. "Kim? It's Nadia. Where are you right now?"

"Same place I've been for the last hour. Trying to find anything of value in Omnicron's filing system."

"Looking for some action?"

**Syd**ney had just about finished her search of the first row of warehouses, when she heard a sound in the darkness Instantly, she whirled around, pointing her Glock.

She was only mildly surprised to see Mulder there, with his weapon as his side. "You have a determined streak that I might find more admirable if you hadn't used it to find me," he told her

"Is this the part where the fugitive kills the nosy CIA agent?" she asked.

"I've seen you in action," Mulder replied quietly. "I can't outshoot you, and I sure as hell can't beat you in a fight, fair or unfair."

"Well, you're clearly not here to surrender, so why are you here?"

Mulder remained still for a few more seconds. "My only option left is to outtalk you, and hope you listen this time." Abruptly, his voice dropped so low he could barely hear him. "The Vice-President is one of them!" he said in a loud whisper.

She wasn't she'd heard right. "An alien?" she said doubtfully. "I don't have much use for the man, but even if this is as deep as you say-"

""Tip of the fucking iceberg," he whispered.

"How much deeper do we have to go to get below the surface?" Now Sydney was sure of her course. "I'm calling in a team."

"I told you this wouldn't work," Samantha said as she and Spender watched the monitor.

"You wanted to get access to the files. Marita's dead, remember?" Spender countered.

"And whose fault is that?" one of the male clones said. "You haven't exactly covered yourself with glory during this mess."

Spender fixed him with a look. "What's done is done. May I remind you that we're on the clock? The people on the top will be making their move soon. Are we ready to go?"

"We just need to grab one last thing."

Mulder knew he couldn't kill Sydney, and he was pretty sure that Samantha and Spender had known this before they sent him out. They had to have some hidden agenda, and Mulder hadn't been able to get more than a few details out of either.

"I'm begging you, Agent Bristow," he told her. "You've already proven that I can't run. Just give me a little more time-"

"I've played by your rules all day," Sydney replied as she finished dialing, "and friends and family keep getting hurt. I've run out of patience-"

Suddenly, a slight rumbling filled the air coming from the building less than three doors down. A bright, yellow flash shot out of the windows of a warehouse. It then repeated several more times. And then the roof of the building began to retract.

_No s_he thought, even as he started running. _This isn't happening._

But it was. The vessel wasn't very big- barely the size of a SUV- but it looked like no aircraft Sydney had ever seen. Suddenly the flashing began again, and suddenly white light was all she could see.

The last thing Mulder thought was _Not again._

**11:44:47/**

**11:44:48/**

**11:44:49**

_WASHINGTON D.C._

There was a first aid kit in the passenger seat of the vehicle they were driving in, but Chloe didn't know enough about first aid to be of much use to Agent Harrison. From what she could tell, the bullet had been a through and through and none of the bones had been hit, but there was an awful lot of blood loss. She thought that she had managed to staunch the bleeding, but Harrison was looking awfully pale.

"You need to see a doctor, Leyla," Chloe was telling her again.

"We get the information to the Congressman, you can drive me to fucking George Washington," Harrison told her. "Please tell me we don't have to go much further!"

"Don't worry," Chloe said with a small measure of relief. "We've made it."

Wayne Palmer's Congressional residence wasn't that far from Pennsylvania Avenue, but was a bit more modest then several of his fellow members. There was a fair amount of added security after the attempt on the President, but the Congressman had called some of it back after receiving Jack's phone call.

"Do you think we were followed?" Harrison asked as Chloe got out of the car.

"If they have the balls to follow us into Congressional territory, we've got more problems then..." Chloe trailed off, as she remembered what had just happened. "I think we'd better make this quick."

She got Harrison out of the car, and the accountant needed to bear down on her shoulder the entire walk to the door. This was not encouraging at all.

"Congressman, it's Chloe O'Brian. Jack Bauer sent me..." She barely got the second sentence out before the door opened.

The congressman looked only mildly surprised to see that one of his visitors was bleeding severely. "I suppose this is where I say: "You should see the other guy.'" Chloe tried to sound ebullient and could only manage resignation.

"Jack only told me that this had to do with why they tried to kill my brother," Wayne Palmer said. "He didn't tell me I'd have to play medic."

"We- need to pass- some information- to you- so you can tell the right people," Agent Harrison said.

Wayne finally let them inside.

"We- that is to say, I, Congressman-" Agent Harrison was rambling now. "-I think I know- the higher-ups behind today's events."

"First of all, Agent Harrison, is it?" the Congressman replied. "Why come to me? Why not the Bureau?"

"We're pretty sure the people who orchestrated today events are highly connected enough so that they can give orders to legal agencies," Chloe told them. "In fact, we're pretty sure they're the people who just tried to kill us."

"Jack said... you were the-only person in DC- he trusted-" Harrison managed to say. "Sir, I realize you have questions- and I think I can answer them- but I think- we should hurry- cause I think I'm just about to- pass out."

"And we need to use your phone," Chloe said. "Sorry to put so much on you, but time is a factor."

Wayne Palmer looked at them for a moment. "Who is behind all this?" he asked instead.

"We're not sure of all the players," Chloe admitted, "but we have a name. And to tell you the truth, Congressman, I kind of hope we're wrong."

Mulder woke up, expecting to be in the midst of a scifi set...he hadn't moved. After nearly two decades of this kind of chase, Mulder would have thought he'd be used to this. He just hoped that his system was inured that he could deal with being knocked out twice in less than an hour.

As he picked himself off the ground, the first thing he noticed was that he had a slight nosebleed - a not uncommon side effect of an encounter with a UFO, though it had never happened to him.

Mulder looked around... no sign of Sydney.

He all but flew back to the warehouse, and at first glance, it appeared they cleaned the place completely out. The tanks were still filled with fluid, but the clones inside were gone. There was quite a bit of machinery around, but he couldn't tell what it was or what it might do. _And once again, my lack of tech experience comes back to bite me in the ass._

He did notice that this warehouse, was not nearly big enough to hold everything _and _a UFO. Which meant they had to have had it nearby, probably in another warehouse...Which meant they still might have left him some bread crumbs.

No matter what they had left behind, one thing was clear.

Sydney Bristow was gone.

The next thought that went through his head was simultaneously selfish and perplexed: _What the fuck did they want with her? Until today, she probably didn't believe in alien life. __And if they did want her, why go through this charade? If they really have access to a ship, why not just grab her at Central Park?_

These were excellent questions, but as the fogginess lifted, he realized he had few answers. If they wanted Sydney earlier, getting her alone was a great idea—there was only one witness. Mulder. And the charade was to use him to get her there... but why want her, period?

_Maybe because she's done more in the last twelve hours than I have in the last twelve years? I'm such a failure than I'm not even worth an alien abduction anymore?_

However, right now he owed it to Scully and Doggett to tell them what the hell was going on, which meant he had to contact CTU. He took out his cell phone—no signal... and his watch had stopped. _Why am I not surprised? And wasn't there a pay phone on the corner?_ _I hope that in all their training, they didn't find a way to strangle a man by phone, or I may be dead before I spill the whole story. _

**11:50:47/**

**11:50:48/**

**11:50:49**

**Brooklyn**

Both Scully and Doggett had been giving death stares to Ritter all through the trip, but Jack was pretty sure they they would let the weasel-like AD live until the rendezvous with Follmer. After that- Jack really didn't much care how long Peyton Ritter lived.

As long as they grabbed Follmer, he'd hold the bastard down while they killed him.

The manpower problem was a greater concern, but Jack had handled operations with a lot less, and pulled them off. The question was how much firepower Follmer had. Considering mercenaries Henderson had sent to Central Park, that could be a real problem. For now, he had armed Scully and Doggett from the Hummers and had gotten them to assemble in the building due east.

As Scully was getting into position, her cell rang. It could only be Mulder.

For a moment, she was tempted not to answer it, because she was- in her own way- as pissed as CTU was that Mulder had decided to, yet again, go rogue. But she also knew that he'd probably found something of value, and that they'd ignore him at their peril. So, as she began to load the her AK, she answered. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the Warehouse District of Manhattan. Samantha was here, Scully—"

"And let me guess: She and Spender spun a whole new tale for you, and before you could assure them of your good intentions, they stole away into the night." Scully shook her head. "Mulder, when Agent Bristow catches up with you, she's going kick your ass into next week. When I see you, I'll help."

"You're only half right," Mulder hesitated. "Sydney's a hell of a tracker, she caught up with us before I even noticed she was there. Spender and Samantha told me that I had to 'handle' her."

"Handle her? And they wanted YOU to do it? Have they met this woman?"

"I don't think so, but they must know something about her. They had one of their flying machines in hiding. When they pulled up stakes, they left me behind, and took her."

It took Scully a few moments to process this. "Why her?"

"Good question. No idea. I'm going to need CTU's help..."

And at just that moment, Scully saw a man with brownish-blond hair walk into the area that they had cordoned off. On either side of him was an armed man, and she didn't think this was all of the troops that Follmer had brought with him. "You couldn't have picked a worse time," she told Mulder. "CTU took mass casualties at Central Park, and we're in the middle of the operation to grab Follmer. The last thing either Nadia or Jack need is to have to deal with this. And, they're not your biggest fans right now."

She expected an argument out of her once and future partner, and she didn't get one. Maybe Mulder was starting to realize how deep they were in. "How long before they're in a position to hear it?"

"If this goes right, five minutes." _But when has anything today gone right, _she thought but didn't say. "In the meantime, do what you do best, and try and find us something useful, which right now means something that can tell us that these monsters are trying to do for an encore."

Before Mulder could say anything else, she hung up, turned off her phone and repositioned her earpiece. She'd be damned if she let these two rat bastards get away with anything else today.

Jack had sent Ritter in to see Follmer. The conversation had only just started when a gun went off—unsilenced, which meant that someone from CTU had pulled the trigger on Ritter.

He'd worry about that after they grabbed this guy.

Follmer dashed from his hideout, covered by the men in the building, and ran straight for his car...

At which point, Scully put three bullets in the windshield.

The driver fell on to the front of the wheel, and the car began to spin out of control.

Follmer leapt out of the way, just before the car rammed right into one of the smaller constructs.

Jack immediately closed the distance. "Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air!"

Follmer blinked a few times before he followed Jack's command. "So you're the CTU agent who has been causing us so much trouble today. Under the circumstances, not very pleased to meet you."

Jack ignored him, and instead snapped a pair of cuffs on his wrists. "I don't know what you think you and your people have been up too, but believe me, you're going to answer for everything you've done."

Follmer then let out a genuine laugh. "You think that I'm the one causing headaches?" He shook his head. "Believe me when I tell you, you haven't even begun to feel the wrath of God. But you will. Soon enough"

Jack was inclined to dismiss this as more of the bullshit he'd been hearing all day, but he wasn't taking Follmer lightly. "Agent Doggett," he said into his earpiece instead, "we're going to interrogate Mr. Follmer on site. There should be a kit in your Hummer. I'd appreciate it, if you and Agent Scully brought it to me."

"All right Jack," Doggett hesitated, "but I'm afraid we've got something else we have to deal with."

"What now?"

"Before this operation, Mulder called in." He paused again. "Good news, he managed to find what he was looking for. Bad news is, that while he was doing that, he somehow lost Sydney."

"What do you mean _lost?" _Jack demanded. "Who took her?"

"The kind of people who know how to vanish without a trace."

_UNDISCLOSED LOCATION_

Slowly, Sydney began to regain consciousness. Even in her foggy state, she could tell that she was being held in place by what felt like chains in certain places- legs, wrists, and somehow her neck.

The last thing that she had remembered was something - Syd hadn't been able to tell what- emerging from the interior of one of the warehouses, and shining a bright light in her eyes. At this juncture, it shouldn't have been that hard to accept that it might be something not of this earth. What was giving her the biggest problem was that she couldn't seem to figure why they would take her instead of Mulder, who had some idea of _what the hell was going on._.

"I would like to apologize in advance for your condition."

The lighting in this- whatever- was so bad it took Syd several seconds to figure out where the speaker was. Even then, she had a great deal of trouble placing the face, mainly because there didn't seem to be that much of it to place. "So you're Spender," she managed to croak out. "You'll forgive me for not shaking hands."

"I'd like to say that this was unnecessary, but we know your reputation, Agent Bristow," Spender tried to sound sympathetic. "Given the opportunity, you'd probably be trying to break my neck about now."

"I get this way when I'm held against my will," she whispered. "I suppose the next part is 'You're doing this for the good of mankind.' Sorry, but I've no reason to trust people who take me prisoner, no matter how fancy their special effects."

"You have no reason to. That's why you're here."

Sydney didn't think this conversation could get any more surreal. "You couldn't have just picked up a phone?"

"Agent Bristow-"

By now Sydney had a clearer view of her surroundings. She could tell that she was being held in place my several large bolts. From the outside, she imagined that she must look like Frankenstein's monster. "You've got me shackled to the wall," she said, "I think that we can be on a first name basis. And I'd appreciate it if you would just cut to the chase."

Spender actually managed a relieved look. "I'll be blunt, Sydney. An alien invasion is scheduled to begin in three years. The major groundwork for this force is supposed to begin today. You managed to prevent the first attack, so the people in power moved to the secondary protocol. One far more dangerous and far more destructive to the planet."

"And you represent what- the heroes?" Sydney didn't even try to hide her disdain.

"I realize you have no reason to believe me, but come on, you've seen the other side in action, do you have any doubts as to their ends?" Spender asked.

"You're holding me against my will. In my experience, those usually aren't the actions of the good guys."

"You work with CTU," Spender countered. "You know that desperate times call for desperate measures. Isn't that how you and your sister sleep at night?"

"Wou can have that conversation with Jack Bauer. Just tell me what the hell you want."

She didn't expect an answer, so what came next was a shocker. "Some time in the next hour, the acting President is going to go before the nation, and announce that he intends to hold an emergency meeting of the security council at the UN early- today." Spender replied. "It is of vital importance that meeting never take place."

Sydney wasn't sure she heard right. "So you're still holding that Prescott is one of the conspirators," she told him.

"We know he is, " Spender told her earnestly.

"So what exactly do you want me to do? Kill him?" Sydney asked dismissively.

"We're not idiots, Sydney; we're well aware that another attack on the President would be just as fatal to the world as what he's actually planning," Spender replied. "All we're asking is that we find a way to stop him To do that we need government access. Unfortunately, as you're well aware, less than two hours ago, we lost our main representative."

Things were starting to get a little clearer. "That's why you wanted Covarrubias," she replied. "You mean she was good for something?"

"Even with his recent augmented status, Mulder was never going to have the access we required. Which makes you our most viable option."

The feelings of rage were now beginning to surface. "And you didn't think to just ask? Don't you know how often I've gone through this shit? Where do you get your communications skills from, James Bond villains?"

"We've seen you in action, Sydney and somehow we didn't think you'd give us the information we need of our own free will." Spender demanded.

"I'm not going to give you jack shit if you don't tell me where the hell we are."

Spender looked at her. "Some place that your satellites and cameras will never be able to locate."

**RADIO TOWER, NEW YORK**

"This would be a hell of a lot easier if you could tell us what we were looking for the sergeant said into the radio.

"Just keep mapping the coordinates," his lieutenant said. "You'll find it."

"And how we'll we know it's the enemy?"

"Trust me," the lieutenant said. "It'll be obvious."

**11:59:57/**

**11:59:58/**

**11:59:59/**

**12:00:00**


	17. 12:00 AM TO 1:00 AM

**Chapter 16**

**The Following takes place between 12:00 A.M. and 1:00 A.M.**

Vaughn wasn't sure whether he was more angry or terrified that his wife had - quite possibly- disappeared off the face of the earth. Nadia knew that she couldn't stop him from going out there half-cocked, but considering that she was just as pissed as he was, she had no intention of getting in his way.

The main reason she wasn't in the same car with him was because they were so short on manpower, and now given that Follmer was in custody, they needed to deal with the possibility of the next crisis, which could be any minute now. If anyone but her husband had tried to reason with her on this, she probably would've said "The hell with it" anyway, but he assured her that he would do everything in his power to find her.

And Jack Bauer was the one person on... or above... planet that she could count on to make certain her sister came back home.

"Are we anywhere on security footage for that area?" Jack asked her.

"Edgar pulled what he could. We have footage of that area right up until half an hour ago. Then suddenly, every camera within a three-block radius goes dead for over eight minutes. According to Mulder, this loss of power and time is par for the course when it comes to unidentified flying objects."

Jack was doing his damnedest to stay straight-faced. "We've already seen aliens today; they have to travel somehow," he reasoned. After that damned dead Renaissance Italian making his life hell for years, how could he reasonably argue about aliens?

"Except Mulder said there were no aliens, only what he called drones," Nadia replied. "And I don't think these ships are the kind of thing you can call like a taxi."

Jack took a breath. "Let's just try and find a way to track this thing if it's still in the air."

"According to Mulder, these things have the equivalent of stealth on them," Nadia replied. "Even our people are going to have some trouble tracking it."

"What's Marshall doing now?"

Nadia was glad for the distraction. "Funny you should mention that," she told him. "Someone's been trying to hack CTU LA for the last hour. Marshall's been putting up firewalls trying to hold them off, but whoever this person is, he's good enough to get around our best tech."

"There anything we can do to stop this?" Jack demanded.

"We may not know who, but we do know where." Nadia replied.

**12:06:48/**

**12:06:49/**

**12:06:50**

_OMNICRON LA BRANCH_

Kim Bauer wasn't itching for a fight, so she decided to be as subtle as possible. Besides, the building was big enough to house a small army, so she was going to let discretion be her watchword.

"Where exactly should we knock?" Agent Curtis Manning asked.

"This isn't the kind of hack that could be done from a laptop," Kim considered. "Let's start with IT. Second floor."

No one at Omnicon's Los Angeles office had been questioned yet, or had even informed that there was an investigation. Jack assumed that Henderson had ordered the place locked down at least before they had identified him as a person of interest, and that any kind of raid would probably be counterproductive. So, Kim had opted for a covert entrance, going in through a secure door near the building's subbasement.

Now inside, she very slowly began to make her way down the stairs, wondering why this was so easy. Granted, the techs had managed a way to countermand the buildings security, but she had still expected there to be something waiting for her- it was Henderson's company, after all. Her instincts weren't quite as honed as her fathers, but she suspected something was up.

Which was the reason that, a split second before she heard a gun cocked, she ducked behind one of the walls. Two bullets went into the exact place her head had been.

She fired three shots into the dark, then yelled into her earpiece: "Curtis! Hostiles at ten o'clock!"

While Kim's instincts were part experience and part genetic, Curtis Manning had been doing this for longer. He and his team swept in behind the shooter. The shooter was down three seconds later.

While Curtis and his team handled her attacker, Kim had made it up to the stairwell. Another gunman stepped into the stairway, gun up and ready—as he stepped directly into her sights. She fired a doubletap without a blink, and kept moving up the stairs.

She had expected there to be more problems, but those seemed to be the only guards. She checked her Palm Pilot, looking for the most likely location. There didn't seem to be any guards on this floor, which made her even more suspicious.

Finally, she kicked in the third door, the main room for the IT. She was even more perturbed by finding the lights on, but still no guys with guns.

In the center of the room, there were two figures both working rather frantically on some computers located throughout the room. "Step away from the keyboard, and put your hands in the air!" she demanded.

The two men leapt up so quickly that Kim was sure they would shoot... but lucky for them, she realized they were unarmed. "Please don't shoot!" the man with the red hair and graying goatee said. "We're being held prisoner!"

Kim wasn't sure she'd heard right. "The only people with weapons here are me," she replied.

In answer, the bearded man tried to gesture to his left wrist. There was some kind of electronic device chained to it. "I'm not familiar with the exact make, but this is a radio transmitter connected to a detonator somewhere nearby. My colleague, Mr. Langley, has a similar device attached to his wrist. Should we attempt to move more than a hundred meters from this spot, our charges will detonate."

Kim moved closer, not lowering her weapon. "And then they just left you here?" she asked doubtfully.

"The woman - Miss Peyton, I believe she called herself- also left this little device behind." The man with the string blond hair- Langley- gestured towards a timer that was currently counting down from 8:28. "I'm guessing nothing good will happen when it hits zero."

"Do you have any idea what that timer is connected to?" Kim was starting to get a bit nervous.

"These people- whoever they are- abducted us several hours ago, informing us that unless we helped perform a very difficult hack for them, someone we care about will be killed." The man with the beard sat down. "Now, I'm not sure whether we failed or succeeded, but it seems, either way, we've become disposable. The timer appears to be connected to the same motion sensor that these bracelets are. If you can help get us out of here, we'll gladly tell you anything you want to know, but, as you can see, that's a pretty big 'if'."

**12:14:38/**

**1****2:14:39/**

**12:14:40/**

**12:14:41**

Jack started with what had been his fallback drug for interrogation of special prisoners: hyoscine-Penethol, a truth serum which even at it's lowest dosages could be devastating to the body. He also started with a much higher dosage than he usually did, because he wanted to see whether the ex-fibbie had a backbone, and besides, he did have a medical professional in case there was a problem.

However, as the minutes dragged on, Scully's voice took on an edge that Jack wasn't sure he liked. If it frightened Follmer, fine, but he'd seen these things implode far too often. Normally, he wouldn't have minded. He and Syd had experience in getting mad, getting even, and getting answers—Scully wasn't, and he wasn't 100% certain that she had better impulse control than he did.

"Did you ever believe in anything?" she asked.

"What we- are doing- is in the- best interest of this country-" Follmer said. "I know you believe- in the truth- but that's not always what's in the best interests of everybody."

"This is a waste of time," Now Doggett had got into the act. "We've got his cell, and we've got other issues to deal with. Cut his throat, and let's leave him for the cockroaches."

"I wouldn't be - so quick on- the trigger." For the first time, Follmer managed a half-smile. "Any minute now- Mr. Bauer- is going to get a phone call."

Eerily, Jack's phone did ring a split second later. Jack considered ignoring this, then picked it up anyway. "What?" he demanded.

"I just got a call from Division," Nadia told Jack bluntly. "As of right now, you are to cease and desist whatever actions you are taking on Brad Follmer, and hand him over to the FBI."

"On whose authority?" Jack demanded.

"The Attorney General," Nadia sounded as floored as Jack felt. "Follmer's been authorized blanket immunity for whatever actions he's taken today."

Jack knew that the only reason this kind of action was being taken was because someone much higher up the food chain was protecting Follmer. "Does he know—?"

"Jack," Nadia cut him off, "have you talked with Mulder in the last half hour? He had a long talk with Spender before the man disappeared.. The one solid bit of intel he got was that they got to Jim Prescott."

All of a sudden, Jack wished he could sit down. "You're saying that the Vice President is part of this conspiracy?"

"He's the one who put out the all points on Mulder," Nadia told them.

It had taken four minutes for Kim and her CTU team to find the explosives. And things went downhill from there.

The bulk of the CTU team had moved out of the blast zone immediately after they had located it. One guard escorted Langley and Byers to ninety meters away from where they were stationed—giving them ten feet for a good running start before the end of their electronic leashes triggered the bomb.

Like every CTU agent, Kim had done her requisite time with the bomb squad, or as they liked to say, she'd learned just enough to get herself killed. And working through what seemed to be one of the most elaborate explosive set-up made her feel that she would have been safer juggling nitroglycerin.

"All right," she told Curtis via her earpiece, "I see four wires connecting to what looks like the main hub. From left to right, they're orange, blue, green, and black. Which one should I cut?"

"Based on the pattern, it's a series ED-5," the tech support was telling her. "But there are two main hubs. What does the blue wire connect to?"

"Small gray box in the left hand corner."

"That's the dummy one," she was told. "You need to cut the green one approximately halfway."

Moving with as much alacrity as she could, Kim very delicately cut the wire. The electronics went dead. Very carefully, Langley, at the other end of the hall, was told to remove the device.

"Not that I'm not grateful Agent Bauer," the bearded man- Byers- was saying nervously through a radio they had been given- "but that time it's still ticking."

There just wasn't enough time to start defusing, and based on the size of the explosives, the entire room was going to go up in flames.. "I think we have to leave right now," Kim told everyone. "Get to the exit, and _keep running._"

Byers and Langley nearly fell over themselves getting out of there, with Kim right on their back. "This is Agent Bauer. Get all agents out of here; there's going to be a blast any second now!"

Seconds later, there was a huge explosion.

From the secure location in LA, the woman who had been responsible for running Omnicron's LA office made a phone call. "It's Peyton," she told Henderson. "The problem we have at the home office has been rectified."

"Good," Henderson told them. "Make contact with our local government connection."

_**12:19:06/**_

_**12:19:07/**_

_**12:19:08**__  
__**Undisclosed Location**_

"So now you know our story," Spender said turning to Syd. "Will you do what we ask?"

Sydney considered this the best she could given how forcibly she was being restrained. "You are well aware of who am I and the work I did involving Arvin Sloane?"

"We don't live in a vacuum, Sydney, even though we don't work with the government. I know about Rimbaldi; I know about the prophecies. Let me assure you; none of that has factored into our decision to ask you for help."

"That's not why I asked," Sydney replied. "What happened to me over the last six years...Over and over, I was asked to save the world. I've made deals with reprehensible people in my life, but I'd rather make another one of them than work with you, colonization or no colonization."

"Nothing will shake your resolve," Spender barely seemed more human than the creatures he had told her he represented.

"For once, I'm going to agree with Mulder. What they're doing is horrible. What you're trying to do- that's an obscenity."

Spender considered this for just a second. "We've prepared for this eventuality, and I'm somewhat sorry we have to use it. You've been held hostage before, which means that this may take longer."

Sydney had been steeling herself for this for the last thirty minutes. She was pretty sure that she was of little more value to these people than a chess piece, and now that she knew what they were going to ask of her, she thought she was worthless to them. Clearly they were going to try and get what they wanted by force, and she'd be goddamned if she let them take it.

Then a large metallic object came down from the ceiling. A small bar emerged from it, and began to uncurl until a small drill was level with her head. She was about to try and taunt him when two of the clamps holding her neck in place reached up and yanked her cheeks and her teeth up. It took all of her training not to utter a scream.

Then, moving with fluidity the drill moved in and began to cut into her soft palate. As the blood spattered against her face, her body overcame her will and she screamed so loudly they'd have heard her in the next zip code.

Except, of course, she now knew they were somewhere out of the reach of normal man.

**12:20:19/**

**12:20:20/**

**12:20:21/**

**12:20:22**

_WAREHOUSE DISTRICT_

Mulder had been surprised when Vaughn ordered the other CTU personnel to follow his advice, and do a hard target search of every warehouse looking for evidence of what he was telling him to do. But then, Mulder could see the look in the eyes of the man whose wife he'd 'lost', and thought it was taking all his energy to keep from reaching out and snapping his neck.

"You must have some idea of why or where they'd take her, Mulder," Vaughn told him in a painfully restrained voice. "Spender didn't go to all the trouble of finding you just to leave you in the lurch."

"They said that the people behind this attack are planning another strike," Mulder spoke quickly. "They said it would take place in New York , and that it would make what could have happened in Penn Station seemed like child's play."

"But they stopped short of telling you what exactly it was," Vaughn replied.

Mulder shook his head. "Just behind the warehouse I saw six or seven sets of tire tracks on the ground. Looked pretty big- hell, maybe they deal in Hummers, too. They used their aircraft to pull out, knowing that it would give them a window."

"We both know you mean flying saucer," Vaughn told him. "And if I understand you correctly, they managed to beam my wife onboard."

He tried to grab Mulder, but he was still weakened from the injury he had taken just six hours ago. Unfortunately, his next move was to go for his weapon, and Mulder wasn't nearly fast enough to outdraw him.

"Look, I realize you're pissed, but I know there's a way to track them down," he said quickly.

"You just said they've got stealth capabilities."

"Maybe, but I also know nothing vanishes without a trace.," Mulder replied. "Just get Edgar on the line."

Wearily, Vaughn put his gun back, and took out his cell out. "You'd better not fuck this up too," he told him before putting it on speaker. "Edgar, this is Mulder. How long will it take you tap into SAC for the Tri-State area?"

"Less than five minutes. Why?"

"I'm going to have Nadia text you some geographic coordinates. I need you to star looking for an aircraft somewhere over Manhattan."

"They turned New York into a no-fly zone after Palmer-" Edgar trailed off. "You're not talking about a private plane, are you?"

"It took off less than an hour ago, and it probably won't appear on traditional radar," Mulder replied. "That's all you need to know."

"Are we talking a goddamn UFO?" Edgar demanded.

"We need to locate and find a way to bring it down without the Air Force or any other branch of the military finding out. This is your time to shine, but do it quietly. Got it?"

There was a pause. "I'll call you back in five minutes," Edgar said.

**12:30:46/**

**12:30:47/**

**1****2:30:48**

**Brooklyn**

The last fifteen minutes had been a nightmare, as three federal marshals had descended upon them in a small federal auto, supposedly acting at the behest of the Attorney General with papers granting Follmer blanket immunity.

Scully and Doggett took the lead in the yelling match, as Jack Bauer stayed, for the most part, in the background. Scully screamed about bureaucratic idiocy. They answered with national security. Doggett led with Follmer being involved in the hit on Palmer, and aren't we on the same side? The Marshals noted that prisoners in Jack Bauer's custody had a tendency to end up in the past tense.

Jack, at long last, spoke up, "We can't ignore the President's orders. Do what you have to do."

Doggett and Scully remained absolutely quiet as the marshal's began to take Follmer into custody.

As soon as they were out of hearing, Scully turned to Jack. "You put a transmitter on Follmer didn't you?"

"They'd search him for that," Jack told them. "But they won't think to sweep their car. You remember how to tail a vehicle?"

"It's been something of a necessary skill on the run," Scully said.

"If Nadia's right about what she told me, Follmer or these people will probably lead us to Henderson. Right now, we've a better chance of finding him through cunning than brute force. Let's try that."

"And if Prescott is responsible?" Scully asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Jack told her. "We need to know what's coming next before we strike, and right now, we've got a couple of other problems coming that need to be dealt with. People are trying to kill us in DC and Los Angeles. We have to find a way to tie this shit together fast, before we get hit again."

As they were about to head out, Jack got a phone call from someone he hadn't expected, "Chloe," he said in a preemptive tone, "this is a shitty time to call."

"Has there ever been a good time?" Chloe retorted. "I couldn't reach Sydney or Nadia, and this is important enough."

By now, Jack had recalled that they must have finally reached Wayne Palmer in Silver Spring. "I realize you went to a lot of trouble to retrieve that data," he said, "but it's redundant now."

"You know the man pulling Henderson's strings?" Chloe sounded dubious.

"We know about Prescott's involvement."

Chloe hesitated. "He may be involved, but we've got evidence to prove Prescott is being set up as a patsy."

Now Jack was stopped dead in his tracks. "What evidence do you have?"

"Harrison found an electronic trail in Senator Matheson's correspondence. He was about to become President pro temp of the Senate. Now that he's dead, that position is about to be filled by a senator whose business interests can be traced to Omnicron and Roush Technologies."

"You have a name?" Jack replied.

"You might want to sit down."

"We need to find a way to keep CTU distracted for the next phase," Henderson said to his DC contact.

"We may have an approach," the twitchy man said. "Before Peyton's bug was discovered at CTU, they told us that one of their agents may have been taken prisoner by one of the renegade craft that fell into enemy hands."

"Do we have any idea what kind of enemy this is?" Henderson demanded.

"The stealth capabilities of these aircraft are very advanced. We may not be able to identify it until it's too late."

Henderson nodded. "Fine. Inform the President of the existence of a bogey flying through American airspace. And recommend to him that it be shot down."

"We're getting into deep water, Christopher."

"But we're almost at the finish line, Senator. A few more hours and you will be President."

There was a long pause on the other end. Henderson knew that his superior liked to wax philosophical at times. "So much blood. I know that every revolution requires sacrifice-"

"Don't get maudlin, Senator; we're far past that point," Henderson had been through too much to deal with this now. "Just finish playing your part. I'll take care of the rest."

Charles Logan nodded. "See that you do."

**12:36:20/**

**12:36:21/**

**12:36:22/**

**12:36:23**

CTU New York

Nadia Santos looked over the video from the bomb sight in California. The LA Omnicron facility had been almost completely destroyed by the blast—the walls were standing, but that was about it. The bomb had gutted the building, took off the roof, the doors, all the windows, and had certainly killed anyone left inside.

Which is why Kim Bauer was still breathing. The left side of her face was stained with blood from her scalp wound, the ash had made her a brunette with blonde highlights, and what wasn't covered with blood was caked by particles of what was left of the building.

"Your father's going have a coronary when he hears what you've been up to," Nadia told Kim.

Kim coughed to clear out some of the dust. "He's the one who arranged for my transfer. Nice quiet desk job, remember?" Another cough, so violent that an EMT offered her oxygen. Kim gave the paramedic a glance so harsh, Nadia could see the family resemblance. Kim looked back into the camera. "Besides, right now, dad has bigger things to worry about. So maybe you can explain how extra-terrestrial life links up with Omnicron."

"Hey, I've been here since this started, and I'm still not sure how this shit fits together," Nadia admitted. "I think this is so deep not even the players know all the moves."

"Maybe the people I'm debriefing can help us connect the dots." Kim told them. "John Byers and Ringo Langley think they know what's going on, and are willing to talk."

"They want immunity?"

"They haven't asked, and since the computer they were using to hacking into Marshall's blew up, we don't have a digital trail yet," Kim hesitated. "They say they'll help us, but not until they speak to Agent Doggett."

Nadia dimly recalled reading these names in the digital data file they'd pulled from D.C. "Agent Doggett is working with Jack," she told Kim. "I guess you can explain your heroics to him."

"Why do I have a feeling that he won't be as thrilled as you are?" Kim replied.

As Nadia was saying goodbye, Edgar walked up to her. "About Agent Bristow's whereabouts," he told her. "I've got good news and bad news."

She felt a tug at her heart. "What have you got?"

"I had to tap into the JPL Topex Poseidon in order to get a look in order to find what you might be chasing," Edgar walked over to one of the bigger monitors. "There is a craft currently flying over Manhattan heading towards the Bronx," Edgar could barely restrain his glee. "I've run composites of it against every conceivable model of civilian and military aircraft, and it doesn't match any of them. It is, by this very definition, an unidentified flying object. Obviously, that's the good news."

It was a tribute as how bizarre the last sixteen hours had been that all Nadia could think was _It just never stops on this job. _"What's the problem?"

"I had to hack a lot of military satellites to get there, so they have to know about it, too, or will put it together very quickly at the rate they're going," Edgar told him.

"Great. So now I have to tell Michael that we know where his wife is, but we have no earthly way of reaching her," Nadia tried to keep the tension out of her voice. "And given their current approach, there's a very good chance they'll try to blow her out of the sky."

"Which approach do you think we should take: trying to stop whoever's behind this or figuring out how to flag down a flying saucer?" Edgar managed to deliver this with a straight face.

Nadia didn't like it, but right now she had to face facts; stopping the President of the United States was currently an easier job than trying to get her sister back. Besides, they knew where Sydney was.

They'd just have to hope they could find a way to reach her soon.

_UNDISCLOSED LOCATION_

They had finished drilling in her palate and were about to start carving up her stomach when the subject finally seemed to lose consciousness.

One of the male drones walked over to the former government agent, and did a quick exam. "Her pulse is still there. Considering the amount of blood she lost, I'm amazed she stayed with us as long as she did."

The female clone based on Samantha Mulder's genetics walked over to here. "Take her down, and get her conscious. Now that she's seen what we're capable of, maybe she'll be more inclined to see reason."

One of the clones pressed a button on a panel. The locks holding Sydney Bristow in place released, and she fell to the floor in a heap. Two more walked over to her and began to pick her up.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, Sydney was a blur of movement. She slammed her elbow as hard as she could into the drone on her left's chin. He fell back as much in surprise than in actual pain. She kicked the next clone in the stomach, knocking him into one of the piles of machinery.

The two remaining drones were both the younger version of Samantha Mulder, and one of them started running in ordr to raise the alarm. The other one reached for a small device she carried.

Sydney leapt into the girl, clamping her hand on the gun wrist while the device was coming out of its holster. She pushed into the clone, pinning the arm to her own chest as Sydney continued her charge. The clone slammed against the wall, and the gun clattered to the floor. A small jet of flame managed to escape from it. Syd thanked her lucky stars that nothing in the immediate area seemed flammable.

For the first time, the clones appeared flustered. "This, this isn't possible," one managed to say.

Sydney launched a side kick at the nearest one, then swooped down to pick up the weapon. She smiled at them and said "Merry Christmas."

Sydney didn't think that they would get the reference to "Operation Christmas," the CIA training program for the grammar school set, but it was the first thing that came to mind—a witticism to cover her bluff that she had any idea what the hell was going on. She still had no idea who these things were, but the fact that the machinery was stained with green, not red, blood seemed to indicate they weren't from this planet. Also, she didn't know where she was, and if there was any way to leave- there were no windows, and only one door- the one she'd seen Spender exit from. Still, she had to play the hand she was dealt, and right now her only option was to go on the offensive. "Where am I?" she demanded of the clone that she'd left conscious.

"One of our vessels flying northeast," the clone told her. "And you're wasting your time trying to beat us into submission. There are still a dozen of us on board, and I sincerely doubt your adrenalin will take you through all of us. And even allowing for that accomplishment, we're the ones flying this ship. You've got nowhere to go."

Sydney studied the weapon a moment, pointed it at the wall, and hit a button. A white hot flame came out of it. She turned back to the clone and tried not to notice that she was threatening a teenage girl. "You either take me to Spender, or my next question will be original, or extra crispy."

"I'm nothing more than one of a series of duplicates. Individually, I have no value. What makes you think I'll listen to you?"

"Because your hand is shaking," Sydney said. "And because Spender needs me. We're going. Now."

**12:40:09/**

**12:40:10/**

**12:40:11**

**Brooklyn-Queens Expressway**

Doggett had been following the tracking signal for the last ten minutes. and was becoming even more amazed with every passing minute as they didn't seem to locate it. However, he stopped short of thinking that their luck was finally beginning to turn - that was always the point when things started to get shot to hell.

Jack sighed several points during his phone call, then said, "John, I think that you need to hear this. I'm putting you on speaker."

There was a long pause. "Agent Doggett?"

It took a considerable effort for Doggett not to lose his concentration, because once again he was hearing the voice of the dead- hell, he'd been at the speaker's funeral. He was still nowhere near as used to this weird shit as Scully and Mulder. "Byers? Is that you?" he said with as level a tone as he could manage.

"Yes, it's me, Agent Doggett." John Byers told him.

"No offense, but considering I buried you, how do I know I ain't speaking to one of them supersoldiers?"

"Good to see that you've still got your wits about you. Agent Bauer- _our_ Agent Bauer- has got us under armed guard, and has been waiting for DNA testing. We're only talking to you because we have information of some urgency, and you and Agent Reyes are the only allies in the government we have left."

Doggett swallowed. "Who died in DC, if you're talking to me?"

"Agent Doggett," Now Langley was speaking was speaking hesitantly, "Kim Bauer only found two of us."

A picture was beginning to form in Doggett's head. "Frohike's the only one who was in the coffin, wasn't he?"

Byers' swallowed. "He said Ringo and I were too young to be giving up the fight. Then he shoved us away, and made sure he was sealed in when the gas was released."

"We made too many enemies with our last little trick. We went into hiding. Jimmy and Yves helped make sure we were never followed, and set us up with knew identities. "

"I realize this is complicated," Now Jack was speaking up, "but we don't have the time for messy reunions. You told my daughter and the people at CTU LA that you had vital information about why you were hacking into their server in the first place. How are you involved in this conspiracy?"

"Hey, get this hardass off our case!" Langley's voice had a trace of his old attitude in it. "We weren't doing this willingly."

"Dad, they're right," Kim interrupted. "The only reason that Marshall managed to backtrace the hack at all was because they left a digital tag in their tap. They wanted to get caught."

"This thing is bigger than you or anybody in the government can imagine." Langley snapped.

"Actually, we've got a pretty good idea how big it is," Jack replied. "Unless you can provide us with something concrete, I don't see why we even have to bother with this conversation."

"How about the name of the agent in LA responsible for the hack?" Langley replied. "How about the people who are working with Christopher Henderson?"

"You've got our attention," Jack told them.

"We learned about the details of what was going to go down a couple of days ago," Byers told them. "We were trying to make contact with our people in the FBI through backchannels. We're good, but these people were better. Last night, we were taken prisoner by a bunch of goons. They were being led by a woman calling herself Kelly Peyton. Told us that they knew who we used to be and what we used to do for Mulder and Scully. Then they told us that we were going to do it, or people we cared about w-we're going to start dying"

"What did you do?" Jack demanded.

"We initiated a series of hacks into some of the more important intelligence servers in the country," Langley replied grimly. "We were to monitor chatter and update the people at Omnicron to the appropriate actions whenever possible. We didn't understand why until earlier yesterday afternoon."

"We stalled and delayed for as long as possible, but when it became clear that Ringo and myself were going to become loose ends, we put the tag into data hack, and prayed that somebody would be able to read it," Byers' paused. "Even then we were pretty sure we were dead. No matter what happens to us, we're grateful for Kim Bauer's help."

This wasn't the pleading of hardened criminals. Jack was waiting for the catch. "And you'll be willing to give us Kelly Peyton's location in exchange for immunity?" he said.

"Perhaps you can negotiate a deal for Ringo, I myself don't care," Byers paused. "The woman who helped us while we were under the radar was Susanne. We've been together for the last four years." He swallowed. "They took her prisoner, and they took our son. Do whatever you want to me, but please- please find my family."

**Undisclosed Area**

In the brief moment she had glimpsed the ship - for lack of a better work- from the outside, she had thought it couldn't be much larger than the warehouse it had come from. But apparently, it was built like a TARDIS, because, even with the enemy's help, it took her several minutes to find the cockpit

Unfortunately, this led her to the conclusion of what she was going to do when she caught up with Spender. Though his plan to torture her into submission had obviously failed, he still had her gun, her phone, and probably enough of these aliens on board to beat her into submission, if he so chose. Right now, Sydney could only think of one card to play, and even that was a long shot. But she had next to nothing on her list of options, so she got ready.

She was about to rap on the cockpit door - another big bluff, as she probably couldn't knock it down at full strength - when suddenly in slid open. _So much for the element of surprise._

"Clearly, I underestimated you." If Jeffrey Spender was at all surprised by this turn of events, he kept it hidden. "It's not a mistake I'll make again."

This did not bode well. Still, she had to play the hand she was dealt. "I take it you know what this weapon does?" she said, showing the flame thrower.

For the first time, a look of real agony appeared on his face. "My mother was killed by one," he told her. "If I had my way, they'd all be scrapped, but against this enemy, we can't pick and choose the weapons we need."

"So you know I could blow you to kingdom come?"

"You could, but you won't," Spender's eerie calm was back. "You may have received a lot of training at the Agency, but I'm goddamn sure that flying an alien craft was never part of your regiment. Take me, or my friends out of the equations, you might as well crash this thing into Yankee Stadium."

This guy really did seem to have all the cards. It was time to try and run a bluff, and a big one. "I'm not the one who's going to crash this thing," she said. "You are. In fact, you might already have. When you kidnapped me," Sydney chose her words carefully, "you guaranteed that a federal manhunt, including my sister, my brother-in-law, and my husband, so they will move heaven and earth to find you."

There was a flicker of doubt on Spender's face. "So they've had experience tracking alien aircraft before," he said sarcastically

"You don't know the techs we have working for us," Sydney countered. "These people could find an errant needle in a continent. You left Mulder behind, and you left breadcrumbs to the warehouse district. You wouldn't work so hard to save the planet if you were planning to fly to a galaxy far, far away the second things started to get difficult. Besides," Syd smiled, "you just made a pitch on how badly you needed my help. So you're still hanging around, probably in low orbit."

Apparently playing poker with Sloane had helped her run a hell of a bluff, because Spender started blinking. "What do you want?"

"Find a way to contact my friends," she demanded.

"This craft needs to maintain an energy field in order to stay off traditional radar," Spender told her. "We appear in the middle of the night over a major metropolitan area, it's going to be 1938 all over again."

"You found a way to abduct me of the street less than an hour ago," Syd countered. "I think you've got some tech savvy that MacGyver would envy. So start working on it. Now."

**12:55:09/**

**12:55:10/**

**12:55:11**

As if finding a UFO wasn't hard enough, they now had to track it without the military finding about it. Vaughn had wished there was a way he could properly monitor this, but right now, they had a more pressing matter. He was reluctant to leave this task behind, but there was another task still ahead of them, and this was one he could actually be useful with. Besides, he wasn't going to let Mulder out of his sight until he knew Sydney was safe. The possibility that she wouldn't be- he was refusing to let that be an option.

Since they couldn't find the aircraft, Nadia had decided they would do the next best thing- track the vehicles that had disappeared while the UFO was taking off. The electrical glitch that had led to the cameras going blank had somehow corrected itself nine minutes later. Using tricks that probably would've turned Marshall green with envy, based on the impressions found at the scene, they had managed to capture the vehicle that had been part of the mass exodus- three industrial truck-trailers and three large van. In any other city, this might have been the subject of scrutiny, but New Yorkers just shrugged, no doubt assuming the trash was being taken out.

Now they were using satellites and traffic cameras to track this mass exodus. What exactly they did when they caught up with them, considering they seemed to be carrying a small army - not even Mulder wanted to speculate.

"What's the next location?" Vaughn was currently demanding.

"Cross Island Parkway, approximately ten minutes ago," Nadia told him. "And we've still got them all traveling in the same pack. What the fuck are they planning?""

"I thought you said that they were going into hiding," Vaughn demanded of Mulder "These don't seem to be actions of people who are scattering; it looks like they're leading us on a wild goose chase."

This was beginning to concern Mulder as well, but right now, he didn't want to be the person to give any more bad news to the man whose wife he had lost. "As far as they know, they lost us when that ship took off," he reminded them. "And considering how opposed they were to government intervention, I don't think they've any more friends on the inside."

"What the hell are they planning Mulder?" Nadia demanded. "If they didn't want you, why did they go to such trouble to bring you over?"

**"**All I know for certain is that the work that Samantha's been doing for the past decade has been geared towards preventing the endgame," Mulder said. "Whatever the enemies have been planning for all these years, killing the President was only the setup for a much darker scenario. Something else really bad is going to happen today."

"And our only hope of stopping it is a bunch of teenage alien-human hybrids," Vaughn spoke as if this wasn't the craziest thing he'd heard all day- which, to be fair, it wasn't. At least it wasn't any weirder than a giant, pulsating red ball being used to bring about global annihilation. "How exactly does that stand against an Army, a Navy and the complete nuclear arsenal? Are they commando-teens?"

Mulder wasn't sure about this part either, but before he could say anything else, Edgar got back on the line. "Just when you think things couldn't get any worse," he said abruptly.

"You made any progress tracking this aircraft?" Vaughn was deliberately avoiding using the word _alien._

"The craft has reduced its airspeed to a manageable rate in the last five minutes," Edgar told them. "Another few minutes and I can isolate its location."

Vaughn looked hopeful for an instant before remembering what Edgar had preceded his statement with. "What's the problem?"

"Strategic Air Command has been in contact with military inside New York," Edgar told them. "They've scrambled two F-15's to within the city's airspace."

Mulder got it an instant before they did. "They can't shoot this thing down!" he said. "They blow it up over the city, there could be hundreds of thousands of casualties."

"It's an enemy aircraft in American airspace. This is SOP," Nadia told her. "And given the way these people operate, we've probably got less than fifteen minutes before they intercept. We've got to find a way to reach it for they do."

And at that very moment, a vague static-like buzzing began to come over their frequency.

"What the fuck!" Vaughn demanded.

After another fifteen seconds of just noise, Mulder could begin to make out words."...ound to.. air...ent... tow. Co.. ercency... U... this is ney... yone... there?"

You could barely distinguish the words, let alone the voice, but Vaughn had spent enough missions as his wife's handler to recognize it from thousands of miles away. "That's Sydney," Vaughn replied. "Edgar, can you get a fix on that transmission?

"You kidding?" Edgar told them. "That was bounced off half a dozen satellite just to come in that clear!"

"How long will you need to get a fix?"

"Ten minutes, minimum."

No one had to say that Sydney might not have that long.

**12:59:57/**

**12:59:58/**

**12:59:59/**

**1:00:00**


	18. 1:00 AM TO 2:00 AM

Chapter 17

The Following Takes Place Between 1:00 A.M. and 2:00 A.M.

**Undisclosed Location**

Sydney had been broadcasting on what they called a radio but, for all she knew, might just as well be some kind of microwave. Whatever it was, there was way too much feedback for her to know if she was getting through to anyone.

"What's it going to take to clear up that signal?" she demanded.

"I don't know," Spender told her. For the first time genuine nervousness was appearing in his tone. "I've never tried to broadcast from this thing before. I don't know what you think these aliens are capable of, but blaring out 'Resistance is Futile' to panic the populace was not part of these ships' original design," Spender continued to monitor the dashboard. Eventually, his eyes fell to a triangular device near the top. "Besides, we've got a more immediate problem. Our sensor have just picked up something at seven o'clock coming up fast," Spender's eyes narrowed. "They're still too far out to confirm, but if I had to guess, I'd say the Air Force has picked us up."

"I thought you said that this ship had stealth capabilities," Sydney was trying not to let nervousness enter her voice.

"Have you forgotten what you're up against?" Spender reminded her. "There are people in this government who know what to look for."

Spender walked over to the dashboard, and began pressing some buttons. "I'm getting us out of here."

"No, you're not," Sydney moved closer, and placed her thumb over the button that activated the flamethrower.

"You know what these people are capable of; you've seen it yourself," Spender replied. "Our best chance is to floor the accelerator, and get out of the range of their missiles."

This may have been the safest course, but Sydney knew her life was hanging by a thread. And right now, she thought her friends could make a stand against whatever government conspiracy their might be then against whatever alien technology they were trying to scramble against. Besides, she thought she could find a way to pit one against the other.

"No," she told Spender. "You're going to find a big enough space where you can land this sonofabitch."

"You're crazy!" Now there was genuine alarm in Spender's tone. "We're not in the Pacific Northwest. The whole country will notice if we crash in the middle of Times Square! And these people will consider anybody who just gets a glimpse of this craft as acceptable collateral damage!"

"You made sure we went unseen when we took off," Sydney reminded him. "And if the government really wants to pull of their little coup, I think they'll realize that they can't just have tanks and hummers showing up on the streets of New York. By the way, my people will probably be a lot more reasonable than theirs. Your choice."

**1:05:36/**

**1:05:37/**

**1:05:38**

CTU NEW YORK

Edgar had been working like the devil for the last five minutes, trying to bounce a signal off military satellites without the military finding out. "I think I got it,," he told Nadia, "but whatever happens, we'd better make this quick. Those F-15's will be within range of whatever Syd's calling from in less than five minutes."

"Do it," Nadia told him. Edgar nodded, and began his own transmission.

"This is CTU New York calling Sydney Bristow. Do you copy?"

There was a long enough pause for everybody to start a new set of worries. Then through the buzz coming from God knew where. "This is Sydney, I copy,"

"I do not wish to add to your panic, but the military's about two minutes from blowing you out of the sky," Nadia reminded her.

"Which is why you're going to get a fix on our coordinates, and find out the safest place for us to land before then."

Nadia wasn't sure she heard right, and even after she was, she didn't think what her sister was asking of was even possible. So she did what she had done so often when working with her sister. She tried to find a way to make the impossible possible.

"According to my calculations, you're less than five minutes from catching up with Follmer," Edgar replied to his immediate superior. "But right now, we've got a much bigger problem."

"Have you found her?" Jack demanded.

"I don't know how she did it, but your sister-in-law found a way to phone home," Edgar told Jack. "Bad news is, so did the military. It's a race between her landing and being blown out of the sky. According to the last coordinates we got, she's just over Hudson Bay. I can probably find her a place to touch down CTU can't handle all of this. I've got systems stretched to capacity as it is. And if we drop one from surveillance and lose track of them, we may never see them again." Edgar replied. "Your call, Jack."

Deciding which psychotic killer he had to risk disappearing into the ether was not a call he wanted to make. Then Doggett spoke up for the first time in awhile. "Let's say we manage to talk this ship down before it gets shot down," he started. "Anyone got an idea how we're supposed to keep it out of the military's hands?"

"So you're saying what, we let Samantha Mulder get away?"

"I've got a feeling that if this find is half as important as she is, she'll find a way to get back to it."

Jack thought that Doggett was letting his feelings towards Follmer cloud his judgment, but since there was a good chance he felt the same way about Henderson, he was in no position to throw stones. "Which agents is closest to catching up with this ship?" he asked.

"Right now, Scully. She's less than five minutes out."

"Then get her there. Now."

**1:12:06/**

**1:12:07/**

**1:12:08**

**Heading East Out of Manhattan**

"They're less than twenty miles and closing," Nadia informed Sydney. "You're still an estimated three minutes from the safest landing point."

"What's the lowest altitude that you can fly this thing at?" Sydney demanded of Spender.

"I can get away with two thousand feet before final descent," Spender was starting to sound panicky.

"Syd, the lower you fly this thing, the more likely they are to shoot you down!" Nadia was starting to sound as panicky as Spender was.

"Basic rules of military protocol: you think of the lives of civilians as unacceptable loss," Sydney said with a confidence she really didn't feel. "No military's going to risk blowing up New York with a ricochet. We can get away with this, but we have to fly _low."_

But some things are beyond the best laid plans of anyone. The ship was almost out of the industrial section of New York when it began it's descent to the landing point. Almost, being the key word

A relatively high building was standing between the borders of the landing field, and as the craft began it's final descent, the body of the craft scraped the building.

A bright flashing began on the instrument board. "Aw, fuck!" Spender swore. "Something just took out one of the primary thrusters!"

"How bad does that make things?" Sydney demanded.

"We're not going to be able to baby this bird in," He got on the intercom. "Everybody, brace for impact!" He whirled back to Syd. "Congratulations, you've killed us all."

"Pity, I only wanted to kill you."

Had there been any witnesses, the sight would have been simultaneously bizarre and explosive. The energy field that cloaked the ship from radar continued to function even as the thrusters failed. Therefore to the outside observer, it looked like absolutely nothing was crashing into the ground, plowing up cement and gravel, and laying waste to signs and trees.

However, it would absolutely guarantee that whatever military search and rescue team that Prescott had on standby would be able to find this alien vessel without any electronic coordinates at all.

It was now a race.

Jack would have bet any amount of money that the people in the car would have just executed Follmer, and thrown the body in the river. The Henderson he knew would have done so without a second thought, especially if he was taking orders from the Vice-President. Follmer had to have something of value, but Jack couldn't pin down what.

Now, according to the tracker, they had finally caught up with the vehicle that Follmer had been driven off in. It was parked outside a small office complex just a block or two away from the East River. The security sweep that the techs had managed showed that there was quite a presence there - at least a dozen men, three of whom were doing patrols of their own.

Doggett had wanted to wait for backup, but conceded that there numbers were pretty thin. So they had gotten out of the vehicle three blocks away, and decided to place one of Marshall's little toys, so that they could listen to what was being said. "Maybe we'll get lucky, and they'll decide to kill each other," Doggett had suggested.

With John speaking to him through an earpiece, Jack managed to elude the men as they worked their way around the building.. The bug, small enough so that it could be hidden in a modest rock, was placed at the window of the building that was under guard.

"Any sign of either of our godfathers?" Doggett whispered to Jack.

"Couldn't get close enough to get a look," Jack told him. "Check the speaker; let me know if we've made contact."

There were a few scary seconds of static before dialogue began to come through. "You're the one who told me to take care of it," Follmer was saying in a slightly agitated voice.

"Not without forcing us to show our hand," Henderson replied. "If it had been strictly up to me, I'd have let them dump you in the river."

Follmer paused. "A frank exchange of ideas is always beneficial," he said slowly. "So here's a reminder. You're strictly the hired help. I have more rabbis for me than in Temple Shalom. Not all of the problems we've had today can be solved by just enough bullets. Your ass is just as vulnerable as mine."

"I thought the Vice-President was helping them equally," Doggett whispered. "What the hell are they talking about?"

Just then, there was the sound of a phone ringing. "Follmer." There was a silence that stretched for a long time. "You're sure?" Pause. "Send people to the site, and find at least one survivor." He hung up. "When were you going to tell me about the ship?"

"They told me it was a stealth bomber," Henderson replied.

"You foolish little man," Follmer replied. "You gave the army bad advice, and now an alien vessel has just crashed on the outskirts of Manhattan. Even at two in the morning, that's going to bring attention we don't need."

"Was it one of ours?"

"We don't have one of our own," Follmer replied. "All of them are 'theirs.' This is a complication we didn't need, no matter what the circumstances were. Now we'd better hope that the subcontractors do their job."

On one level, Jack had absorbed all of this, but part of him had collapsed when he heard about the crash. If Sydney was still alive, she might not be for much longer.

He hoped Scully got there fast enough. Otherwise, the people responsible would pay- no matter how high up the food chain they were.

**1:17:11/**

**1:17:12/**

**1:17:13**

**/1:17:14**

Scully had been reluctant to give up chasing down Brad Follmer in favor of chasing down yet another UFO - she knew better than anyone there how often these frantic, late night searches came down to nothing, even though she'd never been given this much government assistance. But she knew just as well that this probably was part of the end game, so she decided to aid and abet.

The area they had gotten the ship to touch down in was an industrial park just outside of the entry to the Bronx, but the moment she got there, Scully knew something had gone horribly wrong. Cement and gravel-made indentations were everywhere. The remnants of a tall building lay on the ground, and there were a couple of rows of flame when there was nothing that should be burning anywhere.

The horrible part was that even though she could comprehend what she was seeing, Scully had no idea how she could help. The ship was there- no doubt cloaked by the same kind of energy field she had seen them have in Oregon and New Mexico- but she had no idea how to pierce it. But if she didn't do something soon, Agent Bristow might well end up baked alive.

Sydney had been in her share of crash landings, so she knew the safest ways to survive. She had found the safest position she could, and managed to stay tucked in it (It helped that they hadn't had so far to fall) But even as she got up, she realized she now had another responsibility- Spender.

A quick look revealed he wasn't as well off as her. There were cuts and bruises all over his face, and his left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle. As soon as Sydney finished assessing herself, she went over to him. "Spender, are you still with us?" she said quietly.

"Do you...care?" he muttered.

"You know how to get out of this place. I don't." Sydney reminded him.

"Compassion is overwhelming," Spender replied.

"We need to find the exit. Are you in any condition to get me there?"

There was a long pause. "There's a diamond shaped button on the panel in front of me. Can you hit it?" he asked.

Scully didn't know what had happened, but suddenly she could see the spaceship. The fact that she had in front of her confirmation of everything Mulder had looked for didn't strike as much fear into her heart as the fact that parts of it were badly damaged, and looked like they were going to blow at any moment.

A whirring sound emerged from the top of the vessel - she could tell this wasn't where it was supposed to be, because the stair began to spiral up. .Very carefully - after all, the last time she'd approached one, she floated in the air, and was then knocked flat on her ass- she began to work her way there. "Sydney!" she shouted.

Syd was still weak from her torture session, because it felt like Spender weighed a ton. Nevertheless, she soldiered on looking around for survivors.

"I appreciate your concern for my associates, but they're still kind of pissed you made us crash," Spender told her. "If I were you, I'd let them do what needs to be done."

"And what is that exactly?" Sydney demanded.

"If we're lucky, you'll see very soon," The rat bastard had lost all his cards, and was still trying to bargain. "You wanted to go; let's go."

By now, Scully had worked her way to the top, and could just about see inside. _The one time in the world one of those giant flashlights might come in useful, and I'm empty handed,_ she thought to herself. "Agent Bristow, are you there?" she shouted.

There was a very long pause. Then suddenly, she heard a shot. "Scully?"

"You okay?" she demanded.

"That's a relative term," she said. "But I'm coming out.

Sydney was doing much better handling her first flying saucer than she had with hers, Scully thought. _Then again, she's dealt with more weirdness before now._

Then she saw a hand emerge from the darkness. "Little help?" Sydney demanded.

Again Sydney had the advantage on Scully in height and weight, but nevertheless, she did her best. And she was even less happy to see that Jeffrey Spender was there, too. Injured, but still in the game. _His father's son after all, _Scully thought

Slowly, the three of them managed to work their way back towards the level. "Where the hell is search and rescue?" Sydney demanded.

"I'm afraid I'm it," Scully admitted. "What's more, 'they' are going to be here any minute."

"Less than five, if the last numbers I got off the radar were accurate, " Spender was starting to sound less damaged already. "Which means we have to talk fast."

Sydney whirled with a look of pure death on her face. "The government's going to have a hard time talking their way out of a crashed spaceship in the middle of New York," she reminded him. "It's not like this is something that-"

"NOW!" Spender shouted.

There was no way they could've heard his voice, but someone was listening because less than five seconds later, a field came up, and the area that the ship had occupied was completely gone.

"We have to talk," Spender said. "And you'd better listen."

**1:20:59/**

**1:21:00/**

**1:21:01**

Sydney would have argued more strenuously about what had happened, but she had a pretty good idea about the dirty trick that Jeffrey Spender had just played on them. "You've been preparing for this all along, haven't you?" she told him.

"I hated my father with a fiery vengeance," Spender replied, "but if there's one thing I learned from his world, it's that you have to have a failsafe. If you can have more than one, so much the better."

"What the hell is this about, Spender?" Scully still looked like she wanted to tear Spender's throat out. "After all the hell you put me and Mulder through, why her?"

"He needed access," Sydney told her. "According to him, Prescott is going to have a meeting with the UN in the next few hours, and at that meeting, he intends to bring about the steps that will lead to this alien invasion."

Scully actually looked a little thrown by this. "I don't suppose he happened to mention how," she managed to say.

"The black oil, Scully," Spender replied. "The alien virus that caused you and Mulder and everybody else such havoc - that's what it all comes down to in the end."

"How does this connect with Prescott and the UN?"

"All those years of labor the conspiracy put in towards working on a vaccine were ultimately futile," Spender told them. "But with the development of the supersoldiers, they have the capacity to act as a carriers of the virus without showing any signs of the symptoms."

"Spender told me that the President is going to call a meeting of the leaders of the security council, specifically the ones in the Third World. What were your exact words?"

"The ones who lead the countries in the hottest part of the world. As Scully knows all too well, this virus is held dormant by the cold," Spender was talking even quicker now "In Latin America and the Middle East, the virus will spread like wildfire. Infecting the leaders of these nations will be the first step towards taking over the easiest countries for the aliens to take over. They won't even have to lift a finger and half of their job will be done for them."

Sydney looked at Scully. "Do you believe this?"

"It's certainly not any crazier than any theories Mulder has presented," Scully said slowly. "What I don't understand is how any of this falls back on to everything else we've been tracking today."

"I don't know all of the Beltway gossip," Spender admitted. "My guess is that your Henderson is being appealed to out of protecting his country. And that rat-bastard Follmer, he just wants to survive. You know how these conspiracies work- only a few people involved ever see the whole board."

Scully considered this. "All right, how do we stop it?" she asked finally.

"You have to get to Prescott before he addresses the UN, and inject him with this." Spender reached into his pocket with his good hand, and removed a very small vial and a needle. "It's a combination of the vaccine and a mixture of the magnetite. The combination should be more than significant to render the virus in his body inert. Failing that, in a matter of seconds, it will completely incapacitate him."

"Won't that start another crisis?" Scully replied.

"You have to get to David Palmer," Spender told them. "That's what I meant by access. It's probably going to have to be either you or Agent Bauer. And they're going to make an attempt to finish what they started this morning. Don't ask me when or where, but it's coming."

Now Sydney could see very faintly, lights in the distance- and she was more than willing to bet that they wouldn't be friendly. "Are you okay with this?" she asked Scully.

Scully was looking at Jeffrey. "And now I suppose you disappear into the night again," she said slowly.

"We all have to work on saving the world in our own way," Spender told them. "We need to be off in case something goes wrong."

"Something has gone wrong."

Having been tortured, stressed, and put through a crash with an Alien spaceship after being awake for twenty hours, Sydney was a little slow. She didn't hear it in Scully's voice, or her body posture, but the gun was already in her hand and swinging up. Scully from shot Jeffrey Spender three times- head, heart, crotch.

"That was for William, you son of a bitch," she whispered, as he fell to the ground.

Sydney managed to draw her own weapon, only to see Scully drop her own and turn to her. "Go ahead," Scully replied, dropping her weapon. "My mother has cancer, my family disowned me, my son gone. I'm in Hell already. Send me there."

Syd winced. Scully had never had one of her days, and was going through her own shell shock. And considering how she had reacted when Madeline had been in danger, she didn't know if she could've been as patient with the person who'd wrecked her life.

"Come on, Dana," she said, trying to guide them to the nearest car. "We've got a lot to do, and not enough time to get it done right."

**1:28:28/**

**1:28:39/**

**1:28:40/**

**1:28:41**

**Waterfront, East River**

Mulder had been pissed that CTU had stopped pursuing Samantha in favor of locating the UFO. _Oh, stop being a selfish little shit, Mulder. Your driver is Syd's husband, and he's charging right into hell after her and that UFO... besides, we'll probably find Samantha there._

"How far out are we from the crash site?" Vaughn was talking into the radio.

"Less than a mile," Nadia told them. "But we've got another problem. Edgar picked up some chatter a few minutes ago. The military has dispatched a team to those exact coordinates. Confirmation came from Jack just a few minutes ago - it's Follmer's people, and his guess is that this is a search and destroy mission.

For a moment, Mulder was willing to make a bet that Vaughn would ignore the orders - but apparently, he had better restraint than Mulder did. "Please tell me we've at least heard from Syd," he said with just the slightest sound of alarm in his voice.

Just then, _his _cell rang. He thought he knew who it was. "Scully, we're almost there," he said.

"Mulder?"

In all honesty, he had not expected to hear this voice again, certainly not on his phone. "Agent Bristow?"

"Can you put me on speaker, please?" Sydney sounded normal, but Mulder could sense just a hint of concern.

The instant he did, Vaughn began speaking. "Christ, Syd, are you okay?"

"I've been abducted, had holes drilled into me and involved in a mid-air crash in the space of two hours," Sydney told them bluntly. "And even considering that I was in alien aircraft, it's _still _not the most bizarre experience I've ever been through."

For the first time in the past couple of hours, Vaughn allowed himself a laugh. "Where are you?"

"I'm about three-quarters of a mile away from the industrial park where they were trying to land whatever the fuck I was in," Sydney told them. "If the military really is coming for that particular ship, they're going to have a hell of a time finding it. But right now, that's not our biggest concern anymore."

It was amazing how quickly Vaughn adjusted to this. "If you're talking about Jim Prescott being involved in this conspiracy, we're already well aware of that."

"Did he mention that Prescott was an alien-human hybrid?"

Vaughn blinked twice. "You're shitting me right?"

"Spender said as much," Sydney replied slowly. "He had no reason to lie, but then, he didn't have a reason to tell me the truth, either."

"Did Spender die in the crash?" Vaughn asked.

"No," Sydney said quietly. "Scully shot him. Three times"

Mulder was reminded of what happened to Donnie Pfaster the second time he had crossed Scully's path nearly a decade ago. The difference was Pfaster had been a serial killer who had fucked with Scully's head, and Spender... probably had done the same. Also, this time, he hadn't been there to protect her.

"I'm not crying crocodile tears for that prick," Sydney was saying, "but I think that Scully's in shock. I had to drive, and I'm barely in any condition to go anywhere."

"Please tell me that you have a plan," Mulder spoke up.

"We're at Eleventh Avenue. Get there as fast as you can, and get in touch with Jack," Sydney replied. "We need to find a way to maneuver around the government without being touched. This is where he lives."

**1:33:15/**

**1:33:16/**

**1:33:17**

You're sure it's him?" Follmer sounded more than a little unnerved at the news he was getting from the search and rescue. "Well, let that go for now. Lock down the perimeter and make sure that no one gets in or out without proper clearance."

"But there's no apparent sign of any craft," the bewildered minion reported. "We don't have enough cause-"

"May I remind you where your orders come from?" Follmer was speaking with an arrogance that Doggett hadn't expected of him, even now. "While you're gabbing about, that ship is rebuilding itself. We need to lock it down, and make sure it's destroyed. The last thing we need is an assault from another angle."

"Where the fuck is our backup?" Doggett whispered into his earpiece.

"Still fifteen minutes out," Jack whispered. "And these guys have assault rifles and body armor. We'd be lambs to the slaughter without them."

Just then, a man ran up to Henderson. "Sir, we just got back into CTU's servers. Bauer and John Doggett never reported back in."

Henderson looked pissed. "You stupid Fibbie. It never occurred to you to check for a tail?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Get your men out there; go over the last mile with a microscope. We're either bugged or under surveillance, and whoever's here is not getting out alive."

Jack had enough time to wonder how they had gotten right back into CTU's server, before sending his message. "John, they've made us. We have to move in _now."_

Doggett paled a little. "Jack, as much as I want to waste these bastards, Monica got killed walking into this exact same trap. We'd be absolute idiots to make the same mistake."

Jack knew this better than John did, but he also knew that Henderson was going to make it as difficult as possible for anybody to ever find him again. Plus these guys seemed to have half the government supporting them. "Maybe there's a way we can work around this," he said, as he speeddialed CTU.

"Jack, where the hell have you-?" Nadia replied

"Henderson and Follmer are going to be moving out any minute. They're still tapped into our server. I thought Edgar swept the place hours ago."

"He did, which means the leaks not coming from this branch," Nadia replied. "I've got an idea where that's coming from and how to fix it, but Jack, you and Agent Doggett have to get the fuck out of there."

"The rats are in the trap, Nadia. We may never have a better chance to grab them," Jack argued.

"Not as long as the government backs them, which is why I called you in the first place," Nadia told them. "Sydney's back on the ground. She says," Nadia hesitated, "she says Prescott is masterminding this."

Jack moved to elude the perimeter guards. "Didn't we already know this?"

"According to Sydney, Prescott is some kind of alien-human hybrid. Spender told both her and Mulder that he's doing this too."

_Fucking Rimbaldi, the alien wars. Focus, damnit_ "He can confirm this?"

"That's going to be difficult, considering that Scully executed him— Jack, we're on our own for this mission."

"What else is knew? Listen, Nadia, I need you to find a way to buy John and me ten minutes," he told her. "We need to find a way to get to Follmer or Henderson _now."_

"They've got the government on their side," Nadia reminded him.

"Which means we have to get them out of their reach."

"Jack, the thermal imaging sensors indicate that there are fifteen troops on the ground. How do you intend to get through them?"

"One at a time," Jack replied.

**1:38:15/**

**1:38:16/**

**1:38:17**

**Eleventh Avenue, Just Outside The Industrial Center**

Sydney had managed to get the car a couple more blocks before her vision began to gray. She immediately pulled over to the side of the road, and looked at Scully, who still was not speaking. She knew that a few hours ago the ex-fibbie had been on the verge of burnout. Now it looked like she'd blown a circuit.

"Syd!"

Her husband's voice was barely more than a low whisper; it was still the sweetest sound she'd heard in hours. She located the source, and he all but pulled her into his arms.

Vaughn then pulled back a little, as he saw the dried blood that was covering much of her clothing. "Christ, what the fuck did they do to you?" he demanded.

Sydney had been worked on by a lot of interrogators, but the tools on that ship had been probably the most efficient. They'd drilled holes in her pallet, some of her teeth, and had started working on her legs, without even making so much as a surgical incision. No visible wounds; maximum pain. "These guys are a level up on the Taliban when it comes to torture," she told them weakly. "I don't want to think what could've happened in a few more hours."

"The creatures on that ship make the Khmer Rouge look like Mickey Mouse," Mulder told them slowly. "Long story."

Sydney frowned, and was going to enquire when again her knees buckled.. "Please tell me that both of you can drive," she told Vaughn. "We need to get out of here, and I need to recharge. Plus, I'm pretty sure whoever came for that ship isn't going to be friendly."

Mulder was now looking at Scully, who hadn't reacted to seeing her significant other. "Scully, things are going to get a lot worse if we don't get out of here."

"And go where, Mulder?" Scully's voice was dull and she didn't turn her head. "They've got the President. What the hell good can this government protection do us now?"

This was a very valid point. "Did you to talk to Nadia yet?"

"Jack is on the other side of town, trying to figure out a way to grab Follmer and Henderson," Vaughn replied. "Right now, I think it's in our best interest to regroup, and figure out how we can get out of the way of these people."

Sydney couldn't agree more, and was heading over to Vaughn's car, when she noticed something that she had ignore before. "Vaughn," she told them. "About ten minutes ago, a car holding a bunch of mercenaries pulled up in front of that ship. As far I know, they didn't call for back up." She gestured to the ship, where a new group of vehicles were slowly pulling over. "So who the fuck are they?"

Mulder grabbed a pair of binoculars from the vehicle that Scully had been driving in. He looked at them for a few seconds, then slowly began to smile. "Remember how pissed I was that we had to shortchange the search for my sister?" he asked. "Well, we've found her anyway."

Vaughn managed to maintain his poker face. Sydney couldn't. "What the fuck are they doing here?" she demanded.

"My guess, they're here to help their fellow hybrids," Mulder replied. "This could get ugly. Wanna watch?"

**1:42:15/**

**1:42:16/**

**1:42:17**

**Warehouse District**

Doggett and Bauer had slowly worked their way towards Henderson's position one guard at a time. A little satellite footage went a long way, and so did a K-bar knife to the back of the head. Given enough time, they could have carried this out all the way to the hideout, but he had a feeling that their luck was about to run out.

Jack had managed to take out a second guard, which made four in less than two minutes when, sure enough, by the time the third guard appeared, he was talking over the radio. "Henderson, Red 1 and Red 2 haven't reported their position."

"They're here," Henderson spoke in a calm voice. "Order all units to secondary protocol. Get the fuck out of here."

"NYPD is less than two minutes out," Edgar told him.

"We've stalled them as long as we can," Jack ordered. "John, remember we need one alive!"

Unfortunately, the last part was lost over the sound of gunfire. Doggett was still outside their range, which made him certain he wasn't being targeted. He thought they were trying to shoot out anything that moved, and based on the reverberations, they were headed his way.

Running as fast as he dared, he managed to make it back halfway to the car, when the shots started coming from the right. _Now I know how rabbits feel, _he thought inanely

Suddenly, a mercenary appeared on his right side, and started spraying automatic weapon fire in his direction. His only coherent thought was to get to the armored Hummer. He fired twice before he remembered the body armor that they were wearing, and shot at the face.

But again, his focus was distracted from one side, which meant that when the other one opened fire, his guard was down. He dropped to his knees but was hit in the shoulder, causing him to drop his Magnum.

"Ain't that a shame?" the gunman said

"NYPD! Freeze!"

The shooter turned, gun at the ready, and took a .9mm to the head.

One of the cops ran over to Doggett. "Hey, you all right?" he said.

John was in a lot of pain, but when he checked his shoulder, he thought the shot had gone through and through. "I think so," he replied shakily. "The guy I'm working with is walking toward the easternmost building. You have to get backup there ASAP."

"Who are we up against? Some kind of cartel?" the cop asked.

Doggett shook his head. "I'll tell you everything when we get these sons of bitches," he managed to say.

**1:50:15/**

**1:50:16/**

**1:50:17**

Vaughn hadn't wanted to get within ten feet of these new soldiers or the alien aircraft, but Mulder had pointed out that they still didn't have any hard evidence of this conspiracy, and that Samantha was more likely to listen to him than anyone else. Sydney had managed to convince him, and Vaughn reminded Mulder that he was basically going in against superior numbers with superior weaponry, and that Samantha had essentially cast him out as useless not three hours earlier.

Mulder countered that right now, _he _was the lesser evil, and they could afford to make a deal with a lesser devil.

"I hope they're as wowed by your logic as we are," Vaughn had told him sarcastically, "because right now, we don't have fuck-all else to fight them with."

Fortunately, the mercenaries seemed to have dispersed throughout the perimeter, and didn't seem to be guarding their flanks. More likely, they were trying to find the ship that wasn't there, and every time they got close, they fell to the ground in a heap. Mulder would've been amused, except the last time he'd been near a ship like that, he had spent three months in hell, and three more underground. Even the end of the world might not be enough to convince him to come back there.

The hummers had been driving along the side. None of them had opened their doors, and the mercenaries must have thought that they were there for backup. Mulder thought he knew better, but couldn't figure out what their game plan was.

Then the car door opened, and one of the Kurt Crawford clones got out.

"What the fuck is this?" one of the mercs demanded. "This some kind of joke?"

The other mercenaries were having similar reactions as, one at a time, clones of the teenagers began getting out of their vehicles. None of them spoke or moved, until Samantha got out of the car.

"Are you seeing this?" Mulder whispered to Sydney over his com.

"I'm having flashbacks," Sydney told him.

Then Mulder saw that the clones were all reaching into their pockets. The first female clone pressed the button on the grey cylinder, and a stream of flame came shooting out. As the screams of a man being burnt alive broke the silence, everybody starting reacting. The soldiers were made of sterner stuff and didn't run, and they showed no compunction at killing children. The clones returned fire. Some were shot, but they didn't scream. Why should they? Mulder knew what happened when a clone took a bullet. The mercs began finding out as well.

This was the kind of fighting Spender had confronted Sydney with. No wonder she had told him to go to hell.

Then he saw someone running in his direction, firing even as he fled. His concentration was so focused on the chaos behind him, he barely noticed as Mulder got to his feet, and tripped him.

"They're never going to believe this back at-" Suddenly Mulder pushed the fallen figure into the light, and recognized him. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he whispered angrily

The mercenary brushed him off, then came to his feet. "I might well ask you the same question, Mr. Mulder." Considering the horrors that were unfolding not a hundred yards from him, Julian Sark seemed only slightly unsettled by what was happening. "I had a job to do. I'm guessing you have the same."

For a long moment, Mulder was tempted to take Sark's gun, and throw him back to face the fiery vengeance that was coming nearer every second. But he had gone through this long enough to know that even given the hell he'd put Sydney and him through just a few hours earlier, he was still worth something to the conspirators.

"Sydney, it's me," Mulder said into his com. "I've got one of the mercs hostage. Get a kit ready, and let's get the fuck out of here."

"This guy's worth the trouble?" Sydney whispered.

"You'd think so," Mulder replied.

**Waterfront**

Jack had two cops alongside him, and they were working their way around the building's interior. He would've preferred to sweep the place for trip wires, but he didn't think even Henderson would be that thorough. "John, you there?" he whispered into his com.

"Yeah," Doggett all but groaned out. "Jack, you're gonna have to run this last little part with just moral support. The last one I tangled with nearly got me. I'm going to need them to stitch me up before I go out for Round 12," Doggett told them. "Any sign of Thing 2 and Thing 1?"

"Satellite doesn't show any vehicles leaving in the last five minutes," Jack told them. "And the police have a corridor surrounding the place. They're still inside."

"About that Jack," Doggett said, gritting his teeth. "If these guys really are working under Prescott, why not just ask the Attorney General for another favor? At the very least, they'd lose fewer people."

Jack had been considering this as well. "We're missing something," he told Doggett, "In the meantime, I think we have to play this out."

"I know," Doggett said. "I just don't want them to release any more depth charges. Be careful."

The police gave him the all clear. They broke open the side door, and waded into... nothing. There were computers and phones around everywhere, but no sign of Henderson or Follmer. Jack, however, refused to consider this to mean the place was empty. He checked his Palm Pilot, to which Edgar sent him the schematic of the building. Right now, he was looking for a trap door or a back exit.

While he was doing this, his phone rang."Bauer."

"Jack, this is Sydney."

He allowed himself a smile. "It's good to hear your voice again," he said honestly.

"You're gonna be even happier if you knew who we have a custody right now," Sydney paused. "Guess who was leading Follmer's search and destroy on the UFO."

Only one person could make this day any more screwed up."Sark."

"Having just escaped a fiery death, and now back in the arms of people who wouldn't piss on him to put him out, he says he's willing to give us anything as long as 'we can reach an understanding.' I told him since we all but had Follmer and Henderson in custody, he had nothing to bargain with," Sydney replied. "Please don't tell me I've got the wrong information. I'm very eager to watch Sark take a long walk of a short pier."

Few things would've given Jack more pleasure. Unfortunately... He checked his Palm Pilot. Apparently, even though they were practically on top of the water, the building had a lower level. "Give me another few minutes," he told Sydney. "Then you have my permission to send him to hell where he belongs."

"Stay on the line," Sydney told him. "I just want to do one last thing."

Sydney walked back over to Sark. "Jack's got your two higher-ups cornered," she told him. "As soon as he does, we have nothing more to talk about. Ever."

Scully still had barely moved, even with all the carnage. Vaughn was reaching for his weapon. Only Mulder seemed a bit concerned about what was going to happen, and truthfully- this guy was indirectly responsible for Monica's death- he didn't think that he'd lose much sleep over it. "Besides," he mentioned casually, "there's no deal to be made. Once Prescott learns that we have you..."

Sark took a deep breath. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe I'll last a few minutes longer than Mr. Bauer."

Jack had found the trap door that led to the lower level. As he opened it, he heard Sydney's voice on the cell. "Jack, we may have a problem!"

This was enough to cause Jack to stop short, but not quite for the reason Sydney would've expected. There was a man there, gagged and blindfolded

"You okay?" Sydney yelled.

Jack was quiet for a moment. "Hold on," He switched frequencies. "Widen the perimeter of the search, " he told the cops who were with him. "It's looking like they found a way to get out. I'll check the computers, and see if this guy has anything useful to tell us"

As the cops left the building, he took off the man's blindfold. "I don't know who you are, but you're going to tell me everything that you know about Follmer and..."

Then Jack noticed something that shouldn't have been possible- the man's skin was... ripplin...Like it was alive.

The blindfold came off, and Jack could clearly see the small black clouds appearing in the whites of the man's eyes.

He had just enough time to realize that the man had been infected with the virus before the black oily substance began shooting out of the mans eyes, destroying his earpiece in the process.

"Jack, do you copy?" Sydney was shouting into the phone.

Vaughn looked at Sark, and the smug was back on his face. "Looks like I have something to bargain with after all," he told them.

The two cops ran, responding to the shouts they'd heard- only to see Jack emerge from below, apparently as find. "You all right?" one asked, puzzled.

"I'm fine," Jack said calmly. "There's a witness below. Looks like he might need a medic."

The cops got on the radio. Neither of them noticed the small black clouds that were flashing in Jack's eyes.

**1:59:57/**

**1:59:58/**

**1:59:59/**

**2:00:00**


	19. 2:00 AM TO 3:00 AM

Chapter 18

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 2:00 A.M. AND 3:00 A.M.

**Waterfront**

The wound had been easy enough to stitch up, but Doggett could have used something more than a bullet to bite on. If they had captured even one of the big guns, he would have demanded some painkillers - he'd put his body through a lot today, and he wanted to see his fiftieth birthday. Now it seemed that, yet again, the higher-ups had outmaneuvered them.

The man Jack had found was in no condition to help them - he was suffering from what appeared to be extreme radiation burns. Edgar was trying to run an ID on the guy's prints- such as they were- but Doggett was willing to bet it would be yet another dead end.

He grabbed the cop who'd help saved him fifteen minutes ago- Lupo, John thought his name was, and started to give out orders. "Seal off the building, contact CDC - they should still have a couple of people around from Penn Station. No one goes in or out without protective gear," he demanded.

"We've been scanning the building. How the hell did this guy get exposed to that much radiation?" Lupo demanded.

Doggett had a pretty good idea how, but he didn't want to start chasing flying saucers now. Besides, they still had a more pressing problem. Jack had swept the building and had found no sign of Henderson or Follmer. Once again, they had slipped through the dragnet. "What we do now?" Doggett radioed to Jack.

"Order a building by building search of the entire area," Jack replied. "They didn't leave; therefore, they're still on the premises. I'll tear this place down brick by brick if I have to."

The words were right, but there was something about Jack's voice that Doggett couldn't place. He'd heard it somewhere before, but for the life of him, he couldn't tell when or where. "What about the bug in the server?" he asked.

"What about it?" Jack countered. "Edgar said that he'd find a way to clean it out. Whether or not he can is not in our power to determine. We're just going to have to proceed with an extra level of caution."

There it was again. "Jack, is there something you're not telling me?" Doggett asked flat out.

"Agent Doggett, I don't have time for handholding," Jack sounded harsh, but it still just sounded... off. "Let's just find these bastards."

**ELEVENTH STREET**

"We're sweeping the area again," Jack was telling Sydney, "but it's looking a lot like the big fish got away."

There were so many reasons that Sydney didn't want to hear this. "So Sark's our only lead" she said. "Again."

"Nothing's changed, Syd," Jack replied. "We still can't offer the bastard a deal, even if we wanted to. Get whatever information you can get out of him, and then throw him to the sharks.

"And you're sure you're okay?" Vaughn asked.

"As okay as I can be considering that I'm chasing down two slippery eels who seem to have the fate of mankind in their grasp, with little hope of finding them." Jack hesitated. "Sark's talking out of his ass. It's what he does. Now handle him."

And before Sydney could demand any more information, Jack abruptly hung up.

In a normal person, both Vaughn and Sydney would have written off the apparent resignation and calm to simple exhaustion. But they'd known Jack for years. He didn't get tired, especially on days like today. None of this, however, indicated that Jack had been incapacitated.

"What do we do now?" Mulder asked.

Despite her concerns, Syd didn't hesitate. "Follow our leader's advice," she told them. "Let's start cutting holes in him, and see how long it takes him to sing falsetto."

Once again, Sark seemed uncertain. "They told me they left a honeypot for anybody who got too close," he spoke quickly.

"Jack has always been good at taking care of himself," Vaughn said with a self-confidence he didn't quite feel. "He's even more resilient than you are. But I think your luck's run out."

"For Christ's sake!" Sark replied. "This isn't necessary! You know that Armageddon is something I'm anxious to avoid. It was true with Sloane; it's just as true here. Why you think that I would stop Sloane from destroying the world and ruling the rubble, only to give it over to aliens, is beyond me." He shrugged off Vaughn and smoothed out his coat. "And, if you insist on going after cogs in a large machine, I can tell you where Follmer and Henderson might be headed."

Mulder had been quietly considering something for the last five minutes, but now he seemed to have emerged from his brown study. He'd kept his eyes on the horizon for the last few minutes. "Where'd they go?" he asked.

For a moment, Syd wasn't sure what he was talking about. Then she saw that the massacre that they had inadvertently saved Sark from appeared to be over. The fires that the children has set had died out, and they and the Hummers that had carried them seemed to have vanished into the night. "What the fuck?' she muttered.

Soon it became clear that it wasn't just the disappearance of the child rebels that had Sydney stunned. Yet again out of nowhere, a giant shaft of light was forming in the middle of the sky. "Not again!" she shouted.

But it appeared that the craft had learned its lesson from its encounter with her a couple of hours earlier. The light merely arrived at the horizon, and moving at a speed the human eye could barely follow, flew like hell out of sight. When it was gone, everybody was still where they were supposed to be- even Sark, who they'd had the good sense to cuff to the car.

"What the hell was that?" Sark sounded, for the first time, genuinely afraid.

"That, Mr. Sark, is what you and your colleagues have been fighting against," Mulder replied. "And if you're serious about keeping Armageddon away, I suggest you tell us exactly where to find Henderson or Follmer. Because they'll make anything Sydney or Jack do feel like child's play."

**2:09:33/**

**2:09:34/**

**2:09:35**

**Waterfront**

Doggett didn't yet know that Sark was now working with Sydney and Vaughn or the role that he had played in Monica's death. And right now, he probably wouldn't have been able to work up the energy to fight. Right now, he was trying to dodge still another ghost that he really didn't want.

As he went through the third building, he couldn't help but think of the last, frantic hours of the search for his son, going through buildings just like this one, looking for people just like Henderson. The search had ended in a revelation that Doggett had been years getting over, and now, ironically, he was looking for the man partially responsible for that tragedy. He wanted to get Brad Follmer for this, he really did, but part of him- the small part that was grateful for doing to that murderous thug what he could not- regretted what was going to come next.

"Clear!" shouted one of the officers.

There were now two buildings left. "Edgar, are we anywhere on the schematics?" he demanded.

"No record of any of the buildings having a lower level," he was told.

Satellites were going to be useless. "What about the heat sensors?" he asked instead.

"I'm working my way through the last two buildings," Edgar replied "So far, nothing.

This was going nowhere. He switched frequencies. "Nadia, please tell me that you've found something from the background check?" he asked.

"One maybe, but it's pretty thin," Nadia replied. "There's an Officer Howard Tillman. He's been on the force only three years; walked a beat in Greenwich until six months ago. No real reason for his being promoted to Anti-Terrorist...He also has a brother named Leonard, who is employed by Roush Biotechnology Labs."

You didn't need to be Mulder to make this leap. "Somebody get me a twenty on Officer Tillman." he shouted out to Detective Lupo.

It took him several seconds to get an answers. "Tillman's taking the walkthrough in the westernmost building," Lupo finally told him. "But I'm not getting any response from his radio."

"Send two units to converge on that location!" Doggett responded in the radio. "Get ready to converge on Tillman, and make sure every inch of that building gets searched!"

**2:13:05/**

**2:13:06/**

**2:13:07/**

**2:13:08**

To almost anybody else it would have looked like Jack was no different than he had been fifteen minutes ago. He was still mobile, still having conversations, and making sure that the search was formed correctly. But there was a war going on his brain, and even as strong-willed as man as Jack Bauer would be incapacitated by a life-form thousands of years old.

Nevertheless, there were still moment of clarity, like a drowning man gasping for air.. So when he got to the building where he'd been directed, and saw the very man he was searching for coming out, there was a long moment when he got on the horn. "This is Bauer. I see the subject."

There was then an incredibly long pause where Jack blinked several times. Finally he gave Tillman's location- on the opposite side of the search grid. "You sure, Jack?" Doggett said doubtfully.

A much briefer pause. "Positive," he replied, before starting to run in that very direction.

Henderson had observed all this, and smiled. "I'll be goddamned, " he replied. "Something they gave us actually worked like it was supposed too."

"I had a clear shot," Tillman replied.

"I've seen what Jack can do when he's working against you," Henderson told him. "Believe me, this will make all our lives easier."

Officer Tillman had used his radio to give out the all-clear. He'd parked his unmarked car outside the wing of the building, and had gotten into a location where Henderson could reach it. "This is going to make things a bit more difficult," he told Henderson, "but I think there's still a way."

"Yes, there is," Henderson said. Tillman never saw the gun until there was a bullet hole in the his temple.

He quickly searched through Tillman's pockets until he found the key to the vehicle. He got inside and listened to the radio, until he got a clear idea on the officers position's.

He drove right into the center of the waterfront.

Doggett knew that something was wrong even before the report came in that they'd found Tillman's body. Then he saw the car heading towards the black-and-whites that had set up a barricade. Even shooting the tires out would probably lead to the deaths of the cops, even if it wasn't a priority that they needed whoever it was alive.

"Drop the barricade! Fall back!" Doggett shouted into his radio.

"Say again?" Lupo sounded like he'd just announced he was a woman.

"Just do it!" The way he sounded, you'd think that he knew what he was doing.

The police cars pulled back, given the escapee room to break through. Doggett waited a split second longer before he put four bullets in the back tires of the car. The forward momentum kept the car going a few feet before it finally rolled to a stop.

The remaining black and whites surrounded the vehicle before Henderson could get ten feet. "Drop your weapon!" Doggett ordered, as he ran the rest of the distance.

Knowing what Henderson was facing, Doggett had half expected the man to eat his gun. Instead, he dropped it, kicked it over to the cops, and assumed the position. There had to be a catch somewhere, but right now he couldn't see it.

"Before you say something cliché, like 'I'm under arrest' Agent Doggett, I'd think very carefully who it is I represent, and the kind of reach they have," Henderson told him.

"I have considered that. Thoroughly." Doggett replied as he walked up to the man he'd been chasing all day. "Here is my response."

He hit Henderson with a vicious headbutt. "You may be able to stand up to whatever the CIA can throw at you," Doggett replied, "But I'm curious to see how you handle the NYPD. Especially after you shot a brother in blue." He turned to Lupo. "Get me some handcuffs, and a couple of your more discreet officers."

Lupo considered this. "This'll kick us in the ass if it ever sees trial-"

"Trust me," Doggett said, "Henderson will never stand before a judge."

**2:18:22/**

**2:18:23/**

**2:18:24**

Sydney looked at Mulder. "You're coming with me. But from now on, no more bullshit. I tell you to stay in the car, _you fucking stay in the car, or I will shoot you myself._ Are, we, _clear_?"

Mulder now realized his latitude with Sydney had disappeared the moment he'd tried to ditch her. He'd seen what happened when he pissed off Scully, and she loved him. This woman was ready to disembowel him now, and she could probably do it without mussing her nails. "I get it," he said, in as humble a tone as he could manage. "Please tell me that you have a plan."

"All right," she said, as she tossed him his weapon. "Vaughn, take Scully. Find Follmer and Henderson, use Doggett and Edgar. I don't care if they are involved with aliens, nothing vanishes without a trace. Certainly, not these pricks."

Sark gave a polite cough. "I know I'm impugning, but I've got one last little question. What do we do about _them?_"

The only explanation that Sydney could come up with was that for the last ten minutes, they had been wrapped up in their own cocoon. It still didn't explain how none of them seem to have noticed that the black vans that the alien clones had come in by were now circling them. She doubted it was to sell them Girl Scout cookies.

The lead van stopped directly in front of their car. Eerily, every other car did simultaneously. The front door opened. Samantha Mulder got out, and walked right over to her brother.

"Apparently, we need to have another conversation."

Mulder knew he should be afraid- these creatures had just wiped out a dozen better armed mercenaries, and they hadn't exactly been friendly to him before- but right now, he couldn't let this go. "So this is what you've been doing all this time?" he demanded. "This was your great discovery? Teaching children to burn people alive?"

Samantha walked back over to Mulder. "You've seen the things the enemy is capable of," she said simply. "They've been doing this for decades. They have no qualms about using people as guinea pigs. Slaughtering thousands. In order to fight a ruthless enemy, you have to be able to do what is necessary."

Sydney badly wanted to interject in the middle of this "family squabble", but as the Mulders argued, two of the clones got out of the car, and started brandishing flamethrowers. She had no desire to be on the business end of them, especially with two gas tanks next to each other.

"So what are you here to do?" Mulder demanded. "Incinerate my friends for daring to get in the middle of your street fight for Earth?"

"One of your friends helped crash the only ship we have. Now the Feds are on us," Samantha went on stubbornly.

"Hello? We just saw it take off. I have a feeling it'll be fine" Mulder countered

"Another assassinated one of the biggest leaders of the Resistance."

Mulder glanced at Scully. "I'm not going to cry for Jeffrey Spender; I don't care how many children he pulled out of burning buildings."

"Do you not understand what's going on here?"

"'There's a war being waged for heaven and earth. Where there is one law: fight or die. And one rule: resist or serve.' Mulder was all but spitting at them now. "I didn't buy that shit when Krycek was spinning it, why should I believe you? I understand what happens when we lose, but if this is what winning takes, I'd rather throw rocks at UFOs. "

Samantha's expression remain unchanged, but Sydney could sense that she was losing patience. "All right," she finally said, "what is this all about? From what I understand, we both have deadlines to deal with."

Samantha looked them both in the eyes "The President just went on CNN," she replied. "He's going to be flying in to the UN to address the general assembly at 8:30. That gives a little more than six hours before this explodes. Unless you're prepared to do what you have to, all our work will be for nothing."

"Spender already told me what has to be done," Sydney responded. "He also told me they were planning to finish off David Palmer sometime in the next few hours. How do we make sure it doesn't happen?"

Samantha actually hesitated before answering. "How about we call it a trade?" she finally posited. "You help us with that problem; we help you with yours."

Vaughn was about to interject that _all _of these things were their problem, when Mulder beat them to the punch. "That doesn't seem quite fair," he replied. "We'd need something more to balance it out."

"Such as?"

"A vaccine against the virus. One that _works_ and that our scientists can mass produce."

That was actually sensible coming from Mulder's mouth. It clearly gave his sister pause, and it worried the hell out of Sark.

"You do realize that these creatures are no more trustworthy-"

"- than you are, Mr. Sark?" Scully finished snidely.

"He's just concerned for his well-being, " Sydney replied. "Relax, we still need you... but _they _don't."

"You're planning to go after Prescott. That takes a level of bloodthirsty that I didn't think you possessed, even after all these years," Sark replied.

Sydney wondered how much of the plan her arch-nemesis really knew, but decided not to press it for now. "We're sworn to protect the government against any threat," Sydney replied.

"That's interesting. Mr. Henderson is operating under the exact same principle," Sark gave that shark grin. "Guess you're more alike than you'd like to admit."

Sydney wanted to gut Sark for that, but they did still need him- and she didn't want to admit that there was even a hint that he was correct.

**2:27:33/**

**2:27:34/**

**2:27:35/**

**2:27:36**

**CTU Los Angeles**

"Now that Henderson's in custody, isn't the ballgame over?" Kim asked Nadia.

"Considering that he has Prescott in his back pocket, there's not much we can threaten him with or offer in trade, even if we wanted to deal," Nadia reminded her. "And if Follmer is still out there..."

"... the other shoe could drop any moment," Kim finished.

Things weren't going much better on the other side of the country. The search for Kelly Payton was going nowhere, despite the best efforts of Marshall and the two refugees from Omnicron Kim had liberated earlier. There had been nearly twenty minutes of shop talk- for the first time, Marshall seemed to have met hackers who skill was at least his equal, and even his superior, but they had gotten no closer to locating Payton or Byers' wife and son. Nor were Byers and Langley sure if there were any further plans to operate on either coast, but they were certain that Payton had a contingency plan.

"This might be something," Marshall finally spoke up. "Most of the finances for Omnicron were handled in offshore trading, and we've found correspondents in almost everything so far."

"But there's one account that was opened for a safety deposit box in Simi Valley yesterday." Byers told them.

"Just before everything kicked off." Langley finished.

There was something simultaneously creepy and charming about how the three of them were finishing each others sentences. "What's the bank?"

"You really think Peyton's going to break into a bank while the world is ending?" Byers' demanded.

"I think there may never be a better time to do it."

**WATERFRONT**

Mulder had just finished updating Doggett on the last half hour, and the deal they'd struck with Samantha and Sark. Doggett had reminded Mulder that deals with the devil had frequently come back to bite them, regardless of the circumstances.

"You expect to get anything out of Henderson?" Mulder countered.

"I'm going to do my damnedest to try," John replied. " I'm starting to come round to Jack Bauer's way of thinking."

"You sure that's the best model to go with?"

Doggett considered being delicate, but the hour was far too late for that. "If the last decade's taught be anything, it's that we never have all the answers. They're not willing to play fair; why should we?" He headed toward the main dock. "I've got to handle this. If something vitally important happens, you know where to find me."

He'd expected Jack would've been front row center for this, but he'd been strangely indifferent to this, saying that Henderson knew how he would come at him, and that a fresh approach would be best. Then he'd made himself scarce. It didn't matter. Doggett knew what he had to do.

Henderson has his hands cuffed behind his back, and his legs tied together. His face was bruised and bloodied, and there was a cut over his eyebrow. Yet somehow he maintained the smug arrogance of someone who was in complete control of his destiny. Hulking officers stood on either side of him.

Doggett walked up to Henderson. "So you're the man who's been behind all the troubles we've had today."

"Not all of them, Agent Doggett," Henderson managed to sound cocky even now. "And if you really thought I was the puppet master, you'd have called in the entire police force to stand over me, not just these palookas."

"Why'd you leave behind the virus?" Doggett asked instead. "Were you just going to use it to get away, or as some kind of half-assed bargaining chip?"

Henderson considered this. "I figured you'd just toss the body in the corner, and move on to the next phase."

"You think we're that cold-blooded?"

"Jack is," Henderson looked up. "You're proving to be something of a disappointment. Now why don't you just make your offer and get on with it. This pissing around accomplishes nothing."

Doggett shifted his glance upward to the man on his left. "Thirty seconds," was all he said.

The cop hesitated for the briefest of moments before both officers grabbed the prisoner by the shoulders, and forced his head underwater. Henderson had balls; he barely even struggled for the length of time, but in the moonlight Doggett could see that he was choking.

Finally, they pulled him up.

"Back in the '70's, this was SOP for any violent offender. When I heard about it from some of the old-timers at the NYPD, I thought it was barbaric." Doggett looked at Henderson, who was still shaking. "Now I'm starting to see its merits. "

"You really have been taking Jack's lessons to heart," Henderson managed to gasp out.

"That one was for free," Doggett leaned in. "You're gonna to tell me where to find Brad Follmer, what version of the virus you have and where the rest is. In exchange, I may consider letting you live to see another day. If I'm in a good mood."

Now Henderson managed to gasp out a laugh. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"So your answer is no," Doggett looked at him. "Good. A minute this time, and keep a tighter grip on him."

**2:36:16/**

**2:36:17/**

**2:36:18/**

**2:36:19**

**Upper West Side**

Understandably, Vaughn had been reluctant to leave his wife's side, but when he learned that the second attempt on David Palmer's life was fast approaching, he reluctantly agreed to take Scully and head on out to Mount Sinai.. He was equally reluctant to leave Sark with Sydney, but he knew that she had been able to tear him apart even when she was at her weakest, and the turncoat had the habit of bringing out her inner hellcat.

Considering how valuable this vaccine seemed to be, Syd had expected that Samantha would have buried it underground, or at least in a bank vault somewhere in the financial district. It was therefore a little disappointing to hear that they seemed to be keeping it in a storage locker in the modest part of New York. She understood the virtue of hiding something in plain sight, but for something this important she expected a little extra effort.

Samantha met them halfway, with two of her younger duplicates trailing behind her. She removed a key from her jacket pocket.

"Why here?" Sydney demanded.

"We have the caches hidden in many place," Samantha replied. "This location contains the smallest amount. And don't ask where the others are. You asked for a dose. That's exactly what you're getting."

For an individual who claimed to be on their side, Samantha was being very piecemeal in what information she let out. Mulder, who had spent his entire career at the FBI dealing with people who kept him on a very long leash, promising answers and delivering none, was less frustrated than Sydney was. Hell, his parents had gone to their graves never revealing what they really knew. Why should his sister be any different?

"Locker 87J," Samantha told Sydney. "The one closest to the refrigeration unit."

The lights were out and the doors were closed, but this was of little concern to Sydney. "And I suppose we're here in case this place has an automated security system," she said rhetorically.

"The response time is generally less than ten minutes," Samantha said, handing her the key. "The easiest access point is in the back. We'll handle the security if it comes, but I suggest you go in and out before that becomes an issue."

"Any other surprises?"

"Yes," Samantha replied, "but none that are more pertinent. Do what you came here to do, and I'll start telling the rest."

Without waiting for more, Sydney ducked into the alley adjacent the building.

Considering all the shit it had taken for them to get there, Sydney had expected to have more problems getting where she needed. But there had been no security guards, the video feed had been easy enough for Edgar to override, and there had only been one set of locks. Things had been so easy that she had wondered why Samantha was so secure keeping a vital part of the resistance somewhere that had less security than the safe of a 7-11. After all, there was hiding in plain sight, and there was stupidity

_How much shit has gone wrong tonight? _she thought. _Just look the gift horse in the mouth, and get the fuck out of here._

87J was even exactly where it was, right near the refrigerated unit. She made sure the cameras weren't flashing before she took out the key. Ever so carefully, she opened the locker, still waiting for some kind of noise. Nothing.

Inside the locker was a small grey box- the kind you'd find at your average jewelers. It didn't take much to unhook it, and inside were several small glass vials with a small, golden solution in all of them. For all she knew, this could be nothing more than apple cider, but she doubted it after all this effort.

She was closing the box and putting it in her coat, when she heard the creak of the door opening. For all she knew, it might be Mulder, needing to see more with his own eyes or Sark wanted to try and weasel more out of the government, but their luck wasn't that good.

"Put up your hands." The voice was calm and even-handed. She turned to her left to see a very small man in the dress blues of a rent-a-cop. But Sydney didn't believe for a moment that she was being plagued by a late-shift worker. This had to be one of Henderson's men - if she was lucky.

"Easy," she said in an equally low voice. "I'm with CTU. Give me a moment. I'm reaching for my ID." Of course, she did no such thing. Instead, she put the box on the ground, clicked the button that activated her earpiece and began to reach for her weapon.

The guard began walking towards her. "Does the government normally break into storage facilities at this hour?" He was saying the right things, anyway.

"Stay where you are," she said calmly, and was surprised when the guard did exactly that. By now she had her Glock out. "I want to see some identification."

The guard looked at her, mumbled, "They don't pay me enough for this," and began to reach for his badge.

Sydney knew that something was coming, and fired twice, but the guard had leapt backwards, and instead of getting the clean headshot that she wanted, her bullets hit the man in the chest.

Two holes appeared, and the green viscous solution began to stream out. She had just enough time to think _Not twice in the same goddamn day _ before her head became an agony of pain.

Samantha blinked twice, and Mulder could see a couple of the younger drones staring as well. "One of them is here," Samantha said.

By now, Mulder didn't have to ask who 'they' was. He was reaching for his weapon when suddenly two of the drones were standing in front of him. He tried to brush past them, but now his sister had her hand on his shoulder. "We didn't go to all this trouble to just let Sydney die _now!" _he argued.

"And how exactly do you plan to stop him?" the drones said.

"I don't know, but I don't intend to leave her to die. Besides, we need the vaccine for-"

He never finished his sentence as one of the clones pricked him with a hypodermic and he fell to the ground.

"Get him in the van," Samantha said. "Now."

Sydney was somehow retaining consciousness, but she didn't think that she had much of a chance of beating yet another one of these goddamn Alien Bounty Hunters in her current condition. She had tried to get another few shots off, but her left hand suddenly sounded like it weighed a ton. Just as she got it to eye level, the Frankenstein look-alike knocked it out of her hand. Then he grabbed her, and threw her into the wall.

She might have been able to fight him even with the toxin in the air, but not after the torture session the aliens had put her through a couple hours earlier. The best she could managed to do was put up some kind of half-assed defense, and the Bounty Hunter had already demonstrated that he could make mincemeat out of that.

Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and that gave her the energy to make one last, desperate maneuver. Gathering all her strength, she screamed and threw herself right into the alien colossus' chest. He barely fell back a few feet, but it was enough.

He had a brief moment of surprise cross his face before he collapsed in a pile of green liquid.

Revealing Julian Sark holding one of the same stilettos she had seen this creature carry.

There was a long pause. "How... why?" Sydney managed to gasp.

Sark seemed concerned about other matters, though. He looked around, and then began to guide Sydney towards the refrigeration unit near the back. "I realize how awkward this must be," he told her, 'but it is the only way to save you."

_Sark's going to save my life_ Sydney managed to think. _The irony gods look down and laugh._

**2:51:45/**

**2:51:46/**

**2:51:47/**

**2:51:48**

**Waterfront**

They had kept Henderson under nearly two and a half minutes, and he was starting to turn blue about the face and neck. As the cops fished him back towards the surface, and began slapping him back towards consciousness, Doggett had to admit this was getting them nowhere. Henderson hadn't so much as whispered during this entire process.

_I don't know what the fuck I'm doing_, he admitted. _Unless Henderson was half fish, I figured he'd want to save his own ass by now. But this sonofabitch is committed, and we're out of things to threaten him with._

Just then Jack meander back over to them,. "I appreciate the effort," he told him. "but I think it's time that we take these things to the next level.. We need to take him back to CTU, and run the whole kit on him."

Doggett knew that the moment Henderson was in CTU's clutches, Henderson's life span would be measurable in seconds. This didn't really bother him, but he couldn't help but think that these people probably had at least one last trump to play, and the end result could be catastrophic. Besides, at this interrogation game, he was the amateur. Jack was the expert.

"Be my guest," he said, as the other cops began to unlock Henderson.

They were almost at Sinai when the call came in. Vaughn was not pleased to hear Sark's voice, and was even more unhappy when he said there was a minor problem that only Scully was best suited for. Vaughn didn't believe this for a moment, but they were less than ten minutes away, and Scully still hadn't said two words to him. At this point, Vaughn wanted to make sure she wouldn't go catatonic.

Reluctantly, she answered, and was willing to take the phone off-speaker. When Sark explained the situation to her, the first thought that went through Scully's head was _This woman draws trouble faster than Mulder does._

"Agent Bristow was exposed to the retrovirus in the alien's blood," Sark replied. "Henderson said this was treatable but refused to tell me how."

At last, something that she could speak about with relative confidence. "Is there anything nearby that can be used to reduce Sydney's body temperature?" When Sark told her about the refrigeration unit, she began to improvise. The best course of action was to get Agent Bristow to a hospital, but she knew how quickly this toxin could kill. "Empty the freezer, get her inside, and crank the thermostat to the coldest possible setting," she said. "We'll get a medical unit there ASAP, but this should keep her in stasis...What happened to Mulder?" she demanded.

"I can only assume that his sister and those fetching young duplicates absconded with him," Sark replied. "Don't ask me where they could've gone."

Which made four major obstacles that they had to deal with, and that was not counting that they still had no way to get to the President yet. _I just hope we've hit rock bottom_ Scully thought. _Even CTU can't juggle this many balls for long._

She should've known better, even though Mulder wasn't there to nudge her.

**2:55:27/**

**2:55:28/**

**2:55:29**

If Sark really had wanted to kill Sydney, this would be the perfect way- the freezer was the size of a meat locker, and probably as hard to get out of as into. She desperately wanted to ask Sark if this was the only way, but her muscles weren't working right now, and she couldn't have opened her mouth if she wanted to.

"This won't be pretty," Sark told her as he cranked the valve. "but it will serve."

_Sark's trying to reassure me now. Wonders will never cease.. Doesn't help that I know he's lying. His lips are moving after all._

"The exposure wasn't that great," he was telling her. "Five, ten minutes max and you should be back to your old self."

What was he doing here in the first place? For that matter, where were the Mulders? Sydney was getting the feeling that she had just been ditched again, and that could only end in disaster for everyone

"What do you mean, he never came out?" Brad Follmer demanded angrily. "Have you seen these things in action?"

The Grey-Haired man who had been watching this place for thirty minutes, and was still feeling exposed, and told Follmer as much. "What do you want me to do?"

Follmer sighed. "Scorched earth. And make sure _nothing _gets out."

Sydney was beginning to turn blue. Sark knew that the next couple of minutes were critical. If he kept her cold for too long, there was a risk of hypothermia. Too soon, and her blood would start thickening from exposure. Pretty tough, especially since he had no idea what certain symptoms looked like.

Suddenly, he heard a car pulling up to the front of the building. And since it was clear by now that Mulder had disappeared, he didn't think it was friendly.

Then a brick flew in and smashed the window. Sark had just enough time to recognize the smell of gasoline, and jumped behind the freezer.

A split second later, the facility erupted in flames.

The guard over Henderson was only two men, but because Jack was one of them, Doggett had no problem managing the handoff. He wanted to finish going over the surveillance looking for any sign of Follmer.

They were about two miles out of the site when Jack casually looked through the mirror. "There's an unidentified vehicle on our tail. I suggest we divert on the next corner." While the driver was following the instructions, he waited until the second guard was distracted to take out his silenced Glock and shoot him in the chest. When the driver heard this, he spun around. Jack shot him point blank in the head.

Unmanned, the car slammed into a lamppost, but because they were in a Hummer, the front of the car was barely damaged. Henderson was barely even jostled from his seat.

Very slowly, as if he was undergoing great inner turmoil, Jack unlocked all of the prisoner's chains, then got the back door.

"I really should kill you," Henderson said as he left, "but you've already dug a big enough hole. And when that virus is finished with you, you'll wished I blew your brains out."

Jack tried to reach for his radio but could only nod, as once again the black oil clouded over the whites of his eyes. It would take him a full two minutes to call it in.

By then, things were getting much worse.

**2:59:57/**

**2:59:58/**

**2:59:59/**

**3:00:00**


	20. 3:00 AM TO 4:00 AM

**Chapter 19**

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 3:00 A.M. AND 4:00 A.M.**

Despite everything that was going on, Sark couldn't help but admire the rough justice. An hour ago, he had escaped a fiery death only to end up in the hands of his nemesis. And now, it looked like they were going to share the same fiery fate anyway.

As the flames began to grow higher, Sark realized he could still get the hell out of here with little chance of dying. But he knew how pissed Vaughn had gotten when Sark had betrayed him with his first wife - and he hadn't even loved Lauren. And that wasn't accounting for what her sister would do. He might as well consign himself to the flames now than leave her behind; it would be a less painful end.

So, even though it went against every part of his nature, he opened the storage locker, and began to lift Sydney's arm over his shoulder. _How the hell is she able to beat the shit out of me when she's this small? _he couldn't help but wonder in amazement.. He checked the floor for the vaccine that Sydney had risked her life to get- knowing the way the Bristow women thought, if he left it behind, he'd probably get blamed for even if they did manage to escape without a scratch. It took him only a few seconds to find it, but by the time he did, there was now no going through the front exit- not like that had been a viable option in the first place.

"What... the hell... is going on?" Sydney mumbled. She was regaining consciousness. Good. Maybe they'd flushed the contagion. Be a great pity if she were to be burned at the stake right after that.

"Sydney," he said slowly. "Do you think you can walk?"

"Don't think... I can.. stand right.. now.

_Of course not. Why should this be any easier than anything else that's happened already? _"All right," he spoke. "Then try to hold on tight. There's no way this'll be fun."

With that, he began to lead Sydney through the flames towards the back of the building, simultaneously feeling like he was moving too fast and too slow, trying to hold on to his woozy companion for dear life

He was sure that it was less than a hundred yards between the locker and the back exit, but by the time he finally got there, he felt like he had manage to run a marathon. It didn't help that he had to practically crawl there the last fifty feet, which seemed to make Sydney's weight double.

Sark made sure to check the knob for heat, and it was barely lukewarm. Then he started to twist it. It didn't budge. Of course not.

_This works whenever Bristow or Vaughn did it _he thought. _Let's hope the stars are aligned for me now. _

He began to kick the door with as much force as he could manage, each time hearing a ping rather than a thud. The door was sheet metal. It was going to be like a cockroach trying to kick out of one of those deathtraps. Not a good metaphor for his situation, but it was beginning to seem like an apt one.

"Agent Bristow," he whispered, "I hope you've got some strength back, because unless the two of us work together-"

Sydney interrupted by putting squeezing his shoulder. "Not gonna... die... listening to... your excuses..." she whispered.

For all the years that Sark had known Sydney, he had never been quite sure where she got the strength to do the things she did - even adrenaline will only carry you so far. He could only assume the heat of the flames had helped reduce the hypothermia, but _that_ would only carry her so far.

They both slammed into the door. It took four hits before it finally opened a few inches. Sark managed to wedge his foot in the crack, and managed to heave the rest of the way.

They both collapsed outside, nearly broken by heat exhaustion. "I... must have... loosened.. it a bit..." Sark whispered.

"Now is... not the... time.. to brag," Sydney said. "Let's go. Haven't cheated... death... enough to... let it... beat me here."

**OUTSIDE THE WATERFRONT**

Doggett knew that there was a possibility things would unravel; he just hadn't thought that Follmer would strike this fast. Even allowing for that, he didn't think that Jack would have allowed either of those men to get away unscathed. Nevertheless, it was looking exactly like that was what had happened.

"Please tell me that we at least have an idea where they disappeared to," he demanded of Edgar.

"Whoever did this managed to hit us at a blind spot," Edgar told them. "I'll use the real time footage, but it's looking a lot like they got away clean."

At this point, Doggett wanted to hand leadership of this particular operation back to Jack because he was out of patience and ideas. It was then, however, he noticed something even more off about Jack. Before, it had just been his lack of concern about interrogating Henderson. Now he had been involved in a crash, and he still looked only mildly annoyed. Something was rotten here.

"You have no idea how you managed to pick up a tail that fast?" he mentioned.

"Maybe another man on the inside," Jack told them.

"Yet another conveniently dead fall guy," Doggett mused for a second. "Jack, you got any ideas?"

That's when it happened. The stoic facade Jack had worn all day finally buckled for a moment. Suddenly his hands and voice were shaking. "J-John," he managed to say. "You have- to help-me."

"What's going-" Suddenly, John realized what must have happened, even though he'd only read about it in the X-Files. "The man at the waterfront. He was just a host. He passed the virus on to you."

"I keep fighting- but- it's too- stro-" And then Doggett saw the black mist flowing through Jack's eyes. Suddenly, he hit the dirt. It was a good thing his reactions still hadn't slowed much, because a split second later, Jack's gun was up and he was firing wildly. Seconds later, he was tearing ass down the street.

_Holy Christ _was all Doggett could manage to say as he got on the radio. "Attention all units. I'm issuing an all points on Agent Bauer! Pursue with extreme caution, and under no circumstances is lethal force to be used!"

This then brought up two more problems: how would they catch a man as skilled as Agent Bauer without hurting him, and once they caught him, how the hell would they stop the virus from killing him?

**3:08:36/**

**3:08:37/**

**3:08:38**

Given the number of times in his life he'd lost consciousness and regained it in a foreign setting (and that wasn't even counting today), Mulder had begun to wish he'd had some kind of ability to improvise and get free the way Jack and Sydney seemed able to. Instead, he was in the same position he invariably ended up in, feeling weak as a kitten, and with no idea what his next step should be.

Right now all he knew was that he was in the Hummer Samantha had been driving, with no clear idea which direction they were going or what their next move was going to be now that they seemed to have reneged on their promise to help CTU with whatever other bullshit these conspirators had in mind.

"Is this... trip.. really necessary?" he managed to slur to the male clone who was standing over him with a gun to his head.

The clone tried to feed him the party line that escaping a Bounty Hunter was a priority over their earlier agreements, but Mulder tuned him out, and demanded to know where the hell they were headed now.

"And I'd prefer if my sister answered, as she seems to be the only one of you who has her shit together," he added.

"The higher echelon members in this conspiracy will make sure that the President has been terminated. We need to stop this, which means that it comes down to you again."

Mulder was about to point out that they Sydney had already notified Secret Service to higher alert, if such a thing were possible, and that Scully and Vaughn were en route to make sure that all these policies were carried out.

What stopped him was the fact that a) David Palmer had been surrounded by Secret Service when the initial attempt to assassinate him had been all but pulled off, and b) these people hadn't been subtle before, and might well decide to destroy the entire hospital this time.

"So what exactly is the plan now?" he asked instead. "Because I have to tell you, I don't think the Secret Service is going to find you credible, and I'm not exactly in the best of terms with anybody in the government."

This actually seemed to give Samantha pause, but not for more than a few seconds. "We intercepted radio transmission that President Palmer was receiving treatment at Mount Sinai," she answered. "Based on our past experience, the assassins will attempt to make it look like post-op complication caused him to pass away. One of their people will doubtless be disguised as one of the staff."

"That still doesn't tell me how you plan to stop them."

"We're not," Now Samantha seemed even more reluctant to speak. "You are."

_The wheels have clearly come off the bus. _"And how exactly am I going to do that when the conspiracy has got a shoot to kill order on my head?" Mulder demanded.

"When we said 'you', we didn't actually mean you."

The crazy part was Mulder did think that there was a way that they could pull this off, but he had no intention of letting them know this for as long as possible. He was also beginning to realize how Jack and Sydney managed to maintain their detachment when it came to taking sides. He wanted to help them, and right now there wasn't much else he do. "How long until we reach the hospital?" he asked instead. He was told less than ten minutes. "I'll do it, but I want my phone back first."

He couldn't make a private call in here, but he could do the next best thing.

**MT. SINAI**

"It's going to be a real headache getting in there," the hired assassin said. "I'm probably going to have to drop a couple of Secret Servicemen while I'm at it."

"That's what we're paying you for."

"Isn't your man already in position? Why the extra wetworks?"

"We can't afford to leave anything unfinished," Follmer told the would-be orderly. "Just be ready to move within the next thirty minutes."

**3:15:19/**

**3:15:20/**

**3:15:21/**

**3:15:22**

SIMI VALLEY

There were two approaches to finding out exactly what was in the safety deposit box- overt or covert. After a few minutes, Kim Bauer had decided to go for the former- she didn't want to go through a superfluous round of shooting and killing if it could be avoid. Besides, this was one of the rare time when her badge held more power than the bullet. The bank manager still wasn't sure what could be in their vault that was so valuable, but he let Kim and her team in anyway.

"So your bank has does no business with any of these three companies?' she asked, showing him the list.

The manager- Harriman- told them that as far as he knew, neither they or any of their clients financed anything connected with their business. Kim had suspected that the bank had probably been chosen at random to throw them off the scent, which made her even more curious as to what the hell was in that vault.

There was only a single item in the box- a miniature diskette. Fortunately, Kim had brought a laptop in the Hummer she had come in, and she hadn't spent all those years working under Marshall for nothing. There wasn't even that fancy an encryption key on it- whoever designed this wanted to make sure that it was easy to read. Less than ninety seconds after inserting she had a file. "I've got a recording," she said into her radio to Marshall.

"This operation is too big a risk," a voice was saying

"We don't have a choice." a second voice said. "The timetables been pushed back twice already. If we're to have any chance we have to act now."

Kim knew enough from what she'd heard on Omnicron to recognize Henderson's voice. The first voice she recognized instantly, because the weasel-like bastard had been representing California in the Senate for nearly a decade.

"Can't we spread it out?' Logan was saying." After the first outbreak, security will be crawling all over us."

"Killing one isn't enough," a third voice said. "We have to arrange it so we can take care of all of them."

Kim was her father's daughter, but even a far less intelligent person could tumble to what she was listening to - life insurance. This recording was probably either Follmer or Henderson's plan to use as leverage against the Senator should he try to make a move against them when he had the full power of the Presidency. She heard from Nadia that someone in the bureau had come across a damaged copy of this same recording several hours ago. This had to be the hard copy, and they wanted to make sure it was on the opposite side of the country before they had begun this operation. They would not be happy if they learned it was in the hands of the enemy.

Kim removed the file delicately from the computer.

And five seconds later, all the power in the bank went dead- even though the manager had triggered it less than fifteen minutes ago.

_Good news is we've probably found Kelly Payton _Kim thought to herself. _I'm pretty sure that's also the bad news_

**3:20:03/**

**3:20:04/**

**3:20:05**

**JUST OUTSIDE MT. SINAI**_._

Scully had sent a text to Mulder a few minutes earlier, telling him that Vaughn would be onsite within the next fifteen minutes. The problem was he didn't have that kind of time any more. A minute ago, they had dropped him in the causeway just outside the entrance to the ER with nothing more than his gun and an earpiece _Christ, _he couldn't help but think, _millions of years of evolutionary advancement, and they can't come up with any better equipment than we can. This is the side I'm fighting for?_

A little voice in the back of his head told him _Oh, stop whining. According to the stories, Jack Bauer had exactly that much when he tookdown the entire Drazen family. _

He had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen and had brought it up en route. "You could've mentioned you have one of the Jeremiah Smiths in your corner," he had demanded. "It would definitely have made CTU trust you even more."

He was given a half-assed explanation that basically came down to boiler plate paranoia. _Wow, I'm calling them paranoid. Pot. Kettle._

In the meantime, as he waited for instructions, he speed-dialed Doggett, hoping that he still might talk to him before he had to do a kamikaze run.

"Mulder, what the hell is going on?" Doggett demanded.

_That's my equivalent of hello_. "Scully didn't tell you?"

"Do you know the shit were in?" Doggett argued. "Henderson had eluded capture for the third fucking time today, and now it looks like Agent Bauer has been infected with the alien virus."

A stone rolled against Mulder's heart. "You're sure?"

"Fluid in the eyes, Mulder, just like on that oil rig off the coast of Texas," Mulder wouldn't have forgotten- that had been the final excuse for Kersh to drop kick him out of the Bureau.

"As bad as that is, we've got an even bigger problem." He tried to explain what the hell was going here. Doggett mercifully cut him off when he got through the first half.

"Scully gave me a heads up, which is why I'm guessing you're going to have a shitload of fibbies converging in the next five minutes. Think that'll be enough to keep the President alive?"

Doggett had a pretty good idea of how badly Mulder wanted to say yes. "For all I know, they loaded the basement with ammonium nitrate and will turn this place into Oklahoma City the second that there are enough feds there," he told him instead. "Even for the guys we're trying to stop, that would be the definition of overkill."

"I've seen these guys in action, Mulder. To them, that would be just enough kill." Doggett hesitated. "I don't suppose there's anything I can say to make you not go through with this?"

Again Mulder wanted to say no. This time, he was interrupted by the earpiece. "Mulder, this is Samantha," she told him. "Get inside. We're ready to go."

Despite the fact that the hospital was filled with dozens of witnesses, the majority of them highly positioned law enforcement officers, what exactly happened during the ten-minute interval that led to the second assassination attempt was never made very clear to Aaron Pierce's satisfaction. His own excuse was that he was technically still a patient (they'd set his broken arm and given him painkillers, but he insisted on being assigned to the same floor as David Palmer), but most of his associates couldn't give a coherent story, and they were trained for this.

The security cameras at the entrance picked up nothing of use at the entryway or on the fire stairs or elevators. So it was perhaps understandable that when Fox Mulder came walking down the hallway _whistling_, everybody spent a few seconds of shock trying to process.

Then he was charged by eight agents and two cops. And that's when things started getting weird. Mulder made no effort to flee; in fact he stood perfectly still, as he was rushed. Odd enough, but when the crowd finally subsided to try and hoist the fugitive to his feet, _Mulder wasn't there any more. _Only a young woman who immediately started screaming about police brutality and Rodney King.

When he heard this, Pierce got out of his room, and started slogging down to the hallway towards the main action, and then to the President's room. He knew that it was being guarded by a half-dozen of his closest colleagues, but he had a feeling that they would very soon need the help.

They did.

Mulder had been told to go up to the service elevator in the subbasement, and then go from there to the sixth floor He was then told to walk up the rest of the way. When he had raised the issue of why he should just use the elevator, he was told that they were going to provide him with a distraction, and he would be a nuisance. Mulder would have raised the question of what the hell they were planning, except he already had a good idea, and he was pretty sure that the last thing they wanted to hear was him nitpicking

By the time he got there, there was already a huge uproar, with Secret Service lining the walls. "All right," he whispered, "now that I'm here what do you want me to do?"

"The enemy's going to make its move any minute," Samantha told him. "We'll give you the go sign."

Mulder could only assume that somehow they were tapped into the hospital security monitors somehow, which meant they somehow had more mojo than CTU could pull off. _Why do they need me? _he thought again.

The orderly walked into Palmer's room, his hospital ID conspicuous on his left side. The Secret Service would've looked at it with a microscope under other circumstances, but right now their numbers were diminished handling the mess out side. "Can't this wait?" one of them said.

"We need to do a BP check every thirty minutes in case there's a chance of a blood clot," the orderly said. "Timing is critical."

The Secret Service agent though this over, then nodded after a look to his distracted superior. The orderly walked in, and reached for a blood pressure gauge. He also surreptitiously removed a hypodermic syringe from his inside coat pocket.

Mulder had been making his way down the hall and into the room adjacent to the suite that President Palmer was being looked at. _Here I am. Now what?_ Then he saw the orderly apparently about to draw blood from the President. Except that he'd been a patient in far too many of these beds to know that no one ever used a syringe over the heart. _Well, here's where I see if I'm truly expendable._

"STOP!" he shouted, pointing his weapon at the orderly. Who looked up.

And blinked. Because he knew the man. He had been in the first X-Files that he had investigated with Scully - and the last. "Billy? What the fuck?"

And then Mulder felt a gun at his neck. "Drop your weapon."

No time to see who had gotten the drop on him, or yell for help from Samantha. "Sir, take your gun off me and put on that orderly."

"I have orders to shoot on sight, Mr. Mulder," It was taking all of Aaron Pierce's energy to keep his gun at Mulder's neck

"You're here to protect the President," Mulder spoke quickly. "That man is working with the people who tried to kill David Palmer, and I can prove it. His name is Billy Miles and he's wanted in connection with a series of brutal murders committed in May of 2001. The manhunt was never called off!"

Pierce blinked for a few seconds, but before he could, Billy Miles kicked the bed. If shifted three feet to the right- impressive because at the time it was nailed to the floor. Then he ran for the door.

"Stop that man!" Pierce shouted, as he started running after him.

Mulder yelled into his earpiece. "Samantha whatever you're planning on doing, now's the time!"

Pierce could only explain what happened next as some kind of hallucination, brought on by a combination of painkillers and adrenaline. The orderly ran very quickly down the hall- and then stopped.

And began to shake and his skin began to turn silver-grey.

He continued this strange vibration for nearly half a minute, before finally collapsing to his knees, and flying directly into the nearest wall, hard enough to crack the cement.

At that moment, the elevator opened, and another team of agents arrived. All of whom looked absolutely gob smacked- save one.

"Agent Pierce," Vaughn replied. "We can explain." He looked at the mess that was at the end of the hall. "Some of it, anyway."

**3:36:11/**

**3:36:12/**

**3:36:13/**

**3:36:14**

**SIMI VALLEY**

Kim had managed to secure both of the entrances, but she was willing to bet that if Payton had come for the audiofile, she probably had a bigger army than at Omnicron.

She had contacted Michelle ten minutes earlier, and informed her of the situation. Michelle had begun scanning the surrounding area with infrared, and had just reported back that there were at least six hostiles on either side, and possibly more on the way. She was calling in for backup, but she was willing to bet that Peyton's people could get in faster than she could. When Michelle had asked why she thought they hadn't attacked already, Kim told her that the audiofile was worth more than everyone's life inside or outside the building, and that they had to make sure it was whole. Really, her best and only chance was to try and kill the clock.

Now, as she got ready, she received another call. The caller ID didn't list the number, but she had a good idea who it was.

"I don't think we need to borrow with introductions," the female speaker said. "You know who I am, who I represent, and what I want."

"That may be true, Miss Payton," Kim said dryly "but I'm more than willing to give make sure you never get your hands on what's in this bank."

"Not even to save your father's life?"

That was enough to give her pause. She hadn't heard from her father in a couple of hours. It was possible that he was incapacitated somehow. It was also possible that they knew her history and were relying on it to keep her in check. For the first time, she truly understood what her father had been going through the day her mother had died.

"He's on the other side of the country. and he has nothing to do with anything you can pull on me." Kim didn't think that she had given much away.

"A Bauer all the way." Pause. "By now, you know what's on that file. You need as much as I do, and I'm willing to risk anything to get it. So I'm going to give you one chance to come out with that file and walk away clean. Otherwise, the Bauer name is going to end with you."

Payton was the right type to be doing business with Henderson. "How big of you," Kim said.

"Three minutes, or I come in and take it." Payton hesitated again. "Oh, and it will be an excruciating death when I do."

She broke the minutes, which probably meant that they were trying to get inside even now. Things were going to get hairy fast, and right now she could see only one thing that might buy them time.

She ran to Harriman. "The silent alarm, it runs independent of the main power?" she demanded. When he nodded in surprise, she added: "Trigger it. Then follow me up stairs as fast as you can."

ELEVENTH STREET WAREHOUSE

Scully had not liked keeping Vaughn out of the loop about what had happened to his wife, but she had gotten a pretty good idea that his reaction would have been identical to what would happen every time that Mulder had found out she was in jeopardy. She wasn't much happier about leaving him to Vaughn's mercies, but by now she'd gotten a little tired of cleaning up after Mulder's messes, especially when she still didn't have a shield to cover it.

The warehouse had nearly burnt to the ground by the time that she reached it, but Sydney was there, barely able to stand on her own two feet. So, much to her surprise, was Sark, covering in ash and ice, which had done much to take away the veneer of class he tried to wear in the couple of occasions they had met.

"I'd thought you'd have run to the border by now," Scully said as she got out of the car.

"I'm a man of my word," Sark had to gall to say. "Besides, I've seen what those bastards travel in. I think if you people don't win, I won't have much in the way of places to hide."

Scully barely heard that last, having slipped back into doctor mode to take a look at Sydney. Her exposure to the retrovirus apparently hadn't been for that long, and her weakness appeared to be wearing off. "How- am I doing?" she whispered.

"You must be a hardy breed to have taken a dose of this, and still be all right," Scully asked.

"I've been exposed to a lot of contagions in my life." Sydney cut off the questions in Scully eyes. "Later." She turned to Sark instead. "Please tell me you have the vaccine."

He reached around in his jacket and brought out a small vial with an amber solution in it. "I liberated this, too. Want to smash it underfoot?"

"Don't joke; we're all on the scaffold today." She paused. "Thank you, Julian," she replied, "but you can't honestly think that this little gesture is anywhere close to balancing the scales between us, do you?" She turned back to Scully. "What happened to Mulder and his sister?"

Scully had received an update from Vaughn just a few minutes earlier, and began to pass it along to Syd. She wasn't sure what had happened herself, but Samantha clearly had been preparing for just this occasion for quite some time It couldn't have been a coincidence that they had found magnetite lining the hospital wall, along with what remained of Billy Miles.

"So now that they've made their move against the President, what do we do now?" Sydney demanded of Sark.

Now Scully realized that there was one piece of news Sydney didn't have. And now that they had the vaccine in their possession, they might have to make another hard choice very soon. "Agent Bristow," she told her. "Doggett called me a few minutes ago. We have a situation with Jack Bauer."

**3:46:24/**

**3:46:25/**

**3:46:26**

**Waterfront**

Doggett didn't know whether Jack or the virus was making it so much harder for them to find him. They had managed to seal off the surrounding six blocks, and Nadia had authorized the expenditure of more NYPD, even though CTU hadn't been able to do full backgrounds on them. The problem was Doggett figured Jack could elude a small army without breaking much of a sweat, even if he wasn't the one behind the steering wheel. Certainly, he was at least as skilled at this as Henderson was.

They had just finished their third sweep in half a hour, and had come up empty yet again. Security footage was becoming less and less tenable, and in any case, Jack had been told where most of the cameras were when they'd originally arrived on site. The only move they had left was to widen the grid search, which meant fewer cops over a larger area, which led to a greater chance Jack could slither out.

Doggett knew that he was missing something obvious. The man was an expert at spying, and possessed by a contagion which was thousands of years older and even more devious, but it didn't give him the power to cloud men's minds or leap over tall buildings with a single-

_That's it! _he realized. He didn't go up; he went under. They didn't have the manpower to monitor sewer access. But fuck, that meant Jack could have ran halfway to Jersey by now. Still, they had to try. As he began to radio in a warning to for every unit to send one man down the nearest open manhole, he started to look for the closest one as well. He didn't have to run more than fifty feet.

Making sure that he had an extra strong flashlight, as well one of the tranquilizer weapons that CTU provided when they needed to take a suspect alive, he headed down into the murky deep.

_Why the hell do these X-Files always end up in the sewer? _he thought to himself as he descended. A more pertinent question followed: _Assuming he went this way, how exactly am I supposed to track him? _

He calculated where on the perimeter he had been when he looked for the manhole, figured out which way was the closest aboveground, and started heading north. _Hell_ he thought to himself _I might as well just have flipped a coin._

Still he began to wade through the sewage, hoping against hope that something would work in their favor.

Something was. Jack's consciousness was still warring with that of the alien infection flowing through his bloodstream, and though he couldn't seem able to gain effective control, he was capable of managing something subtler.

Halfway through the sewer, he managed to rip a hole in his left pants pocket, and less than half a mile from where Doggett was right now, a small trail of pocket change and paper was beginning to fall. It wasn't quite breadcrumbs, but considering that they might well attract rats, it would serve.

Of course, the alien consciousness still had control of motor function, and the second anyone managed to catch up to him, even the slogged down Jack would be more than capable of blowing a hole in his pursuer's chest.

**3:51:29/**

**3:51:30/**

**3:51:31/**

**3:51:32**

**Simi Valley**

Fortunately for Kim, the bank that Payton had chosen to do business in was large enough to blend in with the line of buildings in town- five floors high. And the only access to the building was at ground level. Unfortunately, Peyton knew this as well, and probably had a contingency plan for just this occasion. All Kim could hope for was that she could buy enough time for the cavalry to get here, and hope CTU's contingency plan could outmatch the bad guys...

Kim heard it first... the hiss of gas released into the stairwell.

They took their best option available-run like hell, and hope they could kick open enough doors on the way up so that the gas would vent out the stairs.

Outside, however, things were about to turn back in CTU's favor. The police had been on high alert ever since the attack on the President, and they responded quickly to the silent alarm. When they heard the gunfire outside, they called in for SWAT.

Compared to the heavily armed mercenaries, they were little more than cannon fodder. But they were enough of a distraction for Payton to have the reroute some of her forces to handle them. In doing so, they bought vital time for Kim and her team to move up the stairs.

What they didn't know was that Payton had one more trick up her sleeve.

Kim had almost made it to the final stairwell to the roof when she saw the team member who was bringing up the rear start quivering like a bowl of Jell-o before finally collapsing. In a matter of seconds she realized what was happening, and that her only hope was to hold her breath and hope that she could retain enough air to make it up the final stairway, break the door down, and get outside before she ran out of oxygen.

Running uphill while holding your breath isn't an easy task, and it probably added another five to ten seconds to the trip. By the time she made it to the door, she was starting to turn blue, and the outside door would have been a big problem had she not learned from her aunt and father the right place to kick a door in. As it was, it took three hard kicks before she could get outside, and taste fresh oxygen.

Any sense of victory faded the moment she realized that the night manager of the bank and her entire team was left behind on the stairs behind her.

Kim, being paranoid, swung around with her weapon, looking up. No one was atop the roof entrance to the stairs. She swung around, wondering how much of the roof she would have to clear first.

She wheeled around to check just behind the exit to the roof, when one of Peyton's men was already charging for her. He ran into her arms as she turned, and he managed to clamped down on her outstretched arms with his own, pinning her arms between his bicep and his ribcage. In his free hand was his own MP5 submachinegun, and he raised it like a club.

Kim threw herself into the attacker shoulder first. And though the attacker outweighed her by a hundred pounds, it was a simple matter of physics: 130 pounds of blond CTU agent concentrated into three square inches equals a lot of punch.

Kim brought her knee straight up, into his stomach, and raked her foot down his leg, scraping along the knee and stomping down on the instep to boot.

The attacker collapsed forward, into Kim, and she twisted as she went down, throwing him under her. He landed on his back with her knee in his groin. She jerked her gun away from his grasp, jammed the muzzle into his throat, and pulled the trigger.

Before his blood even finished spattering the roof, Kim rolled off of him, backwards, in the area her attacker had himself come from. She looked around, waiting for someone else to be behind her, but there was nothing.

Then a bullet ricocheted off of the cement doorframe of the roof exit.

Kim took out a compact from her back pocket. Being a California blonde, most people assumed she carried it for vanity sakes, but it was mostly for situations like this.

With the mirror, she peeked around the corner... there were at least three gunmen. Two behind the massive air conditioning unit at the corner of the roof, and another at just the opposite side of the roof exit... apparently, they had set a trap for her team. Had everyone come up, the CTU team would have been mowed down in a rain of gunfire. But since it was just her, no one wanted to risk killing each other in a polish firing squad formation.

_But now they don't have anyone in a crossfire. It's just me._

And her opposite number at the roof exit looked around the corner, a grenade in hand.

**3:55:39/3:55:40/3:55:41**

**Sewer Under New York**

When Doggett had found the pocket change, he hadn't been sure whether it was Jack's, but absent other leads, he kept following it. The fourth coin convinced him he was going the right way. He called in a couple of cops to rendezvous at the nearest manhole nearest to the intersection, based upon the broadest definition of where he thought that they were. He thought it was 45th Street, but it could just as easily be the middle of the East River. Either way, he was pretty sure he'd have to catch Jack on his own - this did not exactly fill him with confidence.

John had never gotten a uniform explanation as to how the hell this virus functioned - all the X-Files he'd read had given contradictory evidence- but he was pretty damn sure that it almost always overwhelmed the host. Certainly there was nothing to indicate that even the most strong willed person could act against it. If Jack was, this indication was that this was some kind of mutation, which could mean any hope of curing Jack would be very unlikely.

Less than a moment after this thought crossed his mind, he could see a figure on the horizon. Suddenly, he felt like the dog who caught the bus: now, what did he do? Yelling "Freeze!" at an alien seemed incredibly stupid; so did just trying to kill it. _What the hell, _he thought. _Hope that he understands this._

And without any warning he fired two darts into Jack's back. He instantly crumpled to the ground.

_Count my blessings_ he thought as he took out the radio. "Attention all ground units. I have Agent Bauer in custody. Prepare to converge-"

And that's when Jack leapt at him.

**SIMI VALLEY**

Kim Bauer didn't hesitate. When she saw the reflection of her attacker readying a grenade, she placed her gun around the corner, flat against the door frame, and fired five shots into the bastard. The bullets strafed along his shoulder and arm, making him drop the grenade.

He crumpled away from her, and fortunately, the grenade rolled towards his position. The concrete of the roof exit doorframe absorbed the explosion...

And the grenadier's two friends by the industrial A/C unit opened fire with their automatic weapons.

Kim pulled back and frowned, thinking of how to get around this little problem.

And the answer was right in front of her.

When she came into the offices of APO, everyone had wondered why she never wore the same kind of business shoes that Sydney did. While she appreciated Sydney Bristow's abilities, Syd Bristow was no Jack Bauer. While office shoes were nice, and Syd could beat the crap out of anyone and still dress fashionably, most of them were secured by flimsy little straps.

However, the heavy boots that Kim wore had enough shoe laces to secure a prisoner, strangle someone from behind...

Or turn the boot into an extension of her reach.

Without even a blink, she started unlacing one boot, every five seconds, she fired off three round bursts. After twenty seconds, Kim had the boot laces untied and unthreaded through all but three holes, and was down one magazine of ammunition.

However, that wasn't the point.

Now, the MP5 submachinegun of her first attacker was in reach.

Kim checked her mirror again. One of the gunmen was trying to change position. She wheeled around in a crouch, and fired three rounds at him. One clipped his arm, and one hit him square in the Kevlar vest, and the third shot by his left ear. He threw himself back behind his original cover.

Then Kim threw the boot, getting the toe behind the stock on the first try, and she jerked it towards her.

_Thank God he didn't have a shoulder strap._

She holstered her primary weapon, took up the MP5, and braced the barrel against the doorframe. She didn't need all that much accuracy for her target.

The air conditioning unit itself.

Kim fired on full automatic, riddling the unit with bullets. It sparked, then smoked, then burst into flames.

Even the most hardened mercenary would flinch when their cover becomes a smoking wall of fire.

But they wouldn't do it stupidly.

The one who Kim shot dashed out as his partner laid down cover fire.

However, Kim knew that he would be the first to break for cover—he had already had cover picked out— so he ran into Kim's stream of fire.

Leaving her alone with another gunman on the roof. _Great, let's play tag with guns._

And that's when she heard the sweetest sound imaginable - the rotors of a helicopter following by the fire of automatic weapons. The cavalry had finally arrived, and was in the process of landing on the roof of the bank.

John Doggett was getting the crap kicked out of him by Jack Bauer. Everything the FBI agent tried, Jack had a counter for. He tried to kick at Bauer, and Jack intercepted it with a stomp that nearly cracked the bone. Doggett punched, Jack deflected it and backfisted, all with one hand.

Doggett felt like he was being beaten to death. Despite his beaten up status, he was still alive. If this were Jack wanting to kill him, and giving it his all, he felt certain that he would have been dead within the first few punches.

All of a sudden Jack collapsed on top of him. John waited for the virus to do its body-jumping thing. He was only slightly comforted when several seconds passed and nothing happened. What the fuck was this?

"Agent Doggett, report. Report!" Once he realized the sound in his ear wasn't his imagination, he touched it.

"All units, report to my coordinates. Double time."

"What's Bauer's status?" the agent asked.

John didn't want to say this, but didn't have any other choice. "Unknown," he said, as he saw the pools of black clouding Jack's eyes.

**3:59:57/3:59:58/3:59:59/4:00:00**


	21. 4:00 AM TO 5:00 AM

**Chapter 20**

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 4:00 A.M. AND 5:00 A.M.**

When she had heard what was going on around her, Sydney had been reluctant to return to CTU, considering how cold the trail was getting on - well, just about everybody who was behind the day's attacks. But the fact was, she was basically running on fumes. Her daughter might be able to knock her over by now. And while there were no leads in the field, there were a couple of people at CTU who might be able to point them in the right direction.

So she had yielded to Scully's protests, and sat as she drove them back. Halfway there, she learned that Jack was now under the control of the alien contagion. The fact that John Doggett had somehow managed to subdue her brother-in-law was of small comfort, considering what she knew about it. She also knew that now they had a pretty ugly choice facing them.

What she had learned from Scully was not encouraging. "People can survive exposure to it," she told her. "but a lot of time, they're shells of their former selves. The only reason that Mulder and I managed to survive more or less unharmed was because we were each given a version of the vaccine. And even then, you have to be inoculated pretty fast or the virus will take over."

"And when they're in the condition Jack's in?" Sydney asked.

Scully hesitated. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think I've ever heard of the virus going after the system the way it's affecting Agent Bauer," she finally admitted. "We'll need to get a look at him, but from what I'm hearing-" She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to.

Sark had brought himself a little leeway with her thanks to his actions at the clinic, but it was pretty clear that this was not a Get Out of Jail Free card. All of the information that he had given them so far, was only for stuff that they already knew - with one exception. He claimed that Henderson and Follmer had hard evidence to implicate the real power authorizing today's events. Sydney had heard a lot of shocking things today, but the idea that Senator Charles Logan was capable of masterminding a senate picnic, much less this entire operation, was almost too much for even her to accept. "You're sure about this?" she asked.

"I'm surprised one of those tech wizards you have working for you hasn't already produced it," he had told her.

Come to think of it Jack had mentioned that Chloe had come up with some corroborative evidence last night... the pain and the shock must have been getting to her if she couldn't clearly remember. Still, she was pretty sure that Chloe had come just short of proving anything. Whatever this evidence was, though, he was sure that Henderson and Follmer would move heaven and earth to make sure that they had it, and that would include one last strike. What kind of strike, even Sark was not sure.

Sydney wasn't inclined to trust Sark to help her cross the street, but she also knew that the triple-crosser wasn't stupid enough to try and fuck with her head any more. Fortunately, they had other sources, and Syd intended to squeeze them dry before she tried to make any kind of deal with him.

CTU NEW YORK

**4:07:37/**

**4:07:38/**

**4:07:39**

Nadia saw her sister to walk in, either carrying or being carried by Sark, depending on how you looked at it (and she was inclined to give Syd the benefit of the doubt). It took all her willpower not to rush up to her and first hug, then hit her, for all the shit she'd been putting them through in the last few hours. But, she was afraid, given their luck, it would cause Syd to drop the vaccine.

"Holy shit," she said instead, looking at the rather sizable amount of dried blood that was over her clothes. "Please tell me at least some of that blood is Sark's."

Sydney actually managed a grim smile. "I'm not convinced that bastard has blood in his veins," she reminded her. "I'd say you'd should see the other guy, but most of them are piles of goo by now."

"Your concern for my well-being is touching," Sark spoke up. "I know I've done some pretty shitty things to you over the years, but don't I ever get credits instead of debits?"

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Lock him down. As many guards as you can spare."

While Nadia was pulling the still protesting Sark into their hold, Scully came forward, holding the vaccine. "Where's Agent Bauer?"

"Doggett's bringing him in," Nadia replied. "He's ten minutes out."

"Wait just a minute," Mulder's voice came through the speakerphone. "After all the shit that we went through to get the damn thing, and now you're just going to waste it. Based on what I know of the man, he'd be the first person to tell us that there are higher stakes than just one man's life."

For a moment they were all a little appalled by this. Only Scully could understand how Mulder would say something so abhorrent in front of the man's wife and sister-in-law. _At least his daughter wasn't privy to this; Mulder could have gone for the hat trick _

All Scully said was: "You're okay sentencing Agent Bauer to die?"

Mulder at least had the grace to flush a little at this. "I'm just saying you still have a man whose touch brings the dead back to life in custody," he spoke up. "Shouldn't he be your first phone call?"

Even though they'd gone through hell and high water to help him earlier, they'd all but forgotten the existence of Jeremiah Smith. Nadia didn't even think she'd exchanged more than two words with him over the last few hours. Of course, a lot was going on, but that was no excuse. "Get him out here," Nadia instructed Edgar.

"No matter what happens with Jack, we need to focus on finding Henderson and Follmer," Sydney replied. "Flying saucers aside, I don't think they're just going to vanish off the face of the earth."

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION

"Your people have been dropping the ball left and right," Charles Logan berated Follmer. "This entire operation is turning into a disaster."

"It's a little late to be getting cold feet," Follmer replied.

"I haven't lost any nerve," Logan was actually starting to sound confident now, "but I don't think, given your track record, that you deserve any more bailouts."

Other people might have blanched facing their possible deaths. Henderson actually had the nerve to gloat. "Before I considered terminating our little arrangement, I wouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched. You're not President yet."

"Perhaps, but you've arranged things so well, that little could stop it. Not even if you wanted to."

"What we can do is make the first hours of your administration incredibly messy," Follmer told him. "And you'll be too busy cleaning up that particular mess to see the knife coming at you."

With that, Follmer terminated the call. "Get in touch with Payton," he told him. "Even if she doesn't have the recording, we're moving to Plan C. We've got one last trick before we head for the high ground."

**4:13:26/**

**4:13:27/**

**4:13:28/**

**4:13:29**

**CTU LOS ANGELES**

Michelle had held off mentioning Jack's status to Kim until in they were about to land Aside from a brief shiver when she realized Peyton had been telling the truth about her father, Kim managed to remain calm, mostly because she knew that her step-mother and aunt would move heaven and earth to find a way to make him whole again.

After insisting that she be updated constantly on what was happening to her father, Kim told them what they had found in the vault. The big question was what to do next. The next step would be to arrest Charles Logan. It would be ugly, but compared to the machinations that were being played out on the East Coast, it was a cake walk.

That is, until John Byers came in, looking like death warmed over. "I realize that I'm in no position to be asking for favors," he told them, "and that compared to whatever these bastards are planning-"

Marshall cut in. "Ten minutes ago, I received a transmission," he began.

"...I think it's simpler to just play the recording," Langley told them. And that's just what he did.

The background of the video was from a moving vehicle. None of them had actually seen her yet, so it took Kim and Michelle a few seconds to realize that they were looking into the face of Kelly Payton.

"A few minutes ago, despite the best efforts of my men, you obtained a recording that is invaluable to the people I work with," Payton began. "You are well aware of it's importance to both me and my associates. It's also an action against the government, but given what my friends in New York tell me, that's irrelevant to you." She paused. "So I'll be blunt. Unless that recording is in my possession one hour from now, I will release a contagion into Los Angeles' water supply. It's not the same version as the one that Agent Bauer's father," she paused deliberately, "is infected with, save that it's effects will be just as fatal, and lead to casualties in the millions." Payton paused again. "In case you have any doubts as to the seriousness of this threat," she paused, "I'll make it real enough."

The screen cut away to an attractive blonde woman, screaming through her gag. "Mrs. Byers will be the first to feel its effects. And let me assure you, they are very painful." Back to Peyton. "I will call with a location for an exchange at exactly half-past one. Don't waste the time you have trying to trace this call."

With that the screen cut to black.

Kim took out her phone and speed-dialed Sydney.

**CTU NEW YORK**

"How can you not do anything about the virus?" Nadia was demanding of Jeremiah Smith.

"Agent Santos, I'll admit my powers may seem miraculous, but there are limitations," Smith began. "I can heal any damage that man can do, but as you well know this virus doesn't have that origin. I might be able to bring Agent Bauer back to life, but I would become little more than a container for the virus. Little better than one of those aliens you killed earlier today."

No one here had to be reminded how lucky they had gotten in order to kill the aliens they had. Hell, Jack had been the only one to lead a mass charge, but still... There were all kinds of ironies in this situation.

"So we're back to the vaccine," Nadia replied to Mulder who had been very quiet through the last few minutes of the exchange.

Then Sydney reemerged from the medical room, and updated them on her conversation with Kim. Talk about a situation beginning to spiral out of their control. And that would leave them with next to no leads.

Then suddenly Mulder spoke up. "I'd be willing to surrender the vaccine, but I have a condition. Waking the President might endanger his life... "I think it's time that Mr. Smith came to Washington."

Everyone was so astonished by what he was saying that they seem willing to let this horrible, inappropriate pun pass. Not only would it solve at least some of their difficulties, it would definitely be something that not even Follmer and Henderson could ignore. Sydney finally spoke up. "I'll agree to it, but we're not the ones you have to sell on this. As you pointed out, this really is a decision that needs to be made by next of kin. That means, all you have to do is sell Congressman Palmer."

**4:22:15/**

**4:22:16/**

**4:22:17**

Jack hadn't so much as blinked in the last twenty minutes and Doggett couldn't tell whether this was a good sign. They were willing to sacrifice another vial of the vaccine in order to save his life, but John wasn't sure that Jack would be in any condition to be revived

They were finally pulling into CTU when his phone rang. He expected that it was either Mulder or Agent Vaughn. It wasn't.

"I'm sorry to call you," It took him a moment to place the voice, even though he'd heard just a few hours ago. "But I don't have anyone else to talk to."

"What's the matter, Byers?" John asked carefully. "Is she-"

"No," John actually sounded relieved to have to explain, and in his typically brusque way, he was well-served. "I realize that Susanne's life doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but to be discarded like she were chattel-"

John knew the people at CTU were dedicated, but despite the familial ties that bound most of the people he'd met, he knew they were country first, anything else second. And it did bother him that Monica had died embracing their values instead of their own. "I don't know what you think I can do from over here," he began.

"I realize you're dealing with a lot," Byers made this grand understatement like he'd made so many others, "and I don't want to make a bad situation worse, but I think I know what they're planning to unleash in half an hour."

"Hang on," John stuck the phone to his chest as they wheeled Jack into the medical unit. "Give me some good news. Tell me he's viable."

Scully now seemed to be at the point where she could take these comings and going in stride. Unfortunately, she now had to deliver the bad news. "I'll do what I can, but, as I told his wife earlier, I've never actually administered it. And I've got no idea how long it will be until we see results. Could be five minutes, could be six hours."

Doggett had been expecting as much, but it rolled a stone against his heart the same way. And now he had to tell them this. "Byers' thinks he's found something."

"Agent Doggett," Byers said, "I realize you have a job, but for the moment I need this to stay among the people in the X-Files."

If there was one thing Doggett knew, it was that you couldn't keep secrets among these people. However, he understood Byers' state. "What have you found?"

"Ringo and I went through the last of the files we downloaded to Omnicron before they blasted it back into the stone age. Most of it's beyond even our reconstruction abilities, but we did find one recently accessed file that might give us a hint what's coming next."

"What was the file called?" Doggett asked.

"Purity Control."

It was familiar, but Doggett couldn't place the name. Scully could. "John, you need to talk to Sark. _Now."_

"What the hell does that file mean?"

"That this isn't even close to being over."

**4:28:36/**

**4:28:37/**

**4:28:38/**

**4:28:39**

CTU Los Angeles

"They've administered the vaccine to him," Nadia told Kim. "Scully is monitoring the situation. Beyond that, all we can do is wait."

Kim took a huge breath. She hadn't given much thought to God since the day her mother died, but for the first time she wanted very badly to have something to believe in. Something to watch over her father.

"You sure you want to stay in on this Kelly Payton business? I understand the need for distractions, but still-"

"I can't just sit around if she's serious about unleashing this kind of hell," Kim replied. "I'm pretty sure you'd do the same thing."

Then Marshall walked up to Kim. "Um, I realize this isn't the kind of thing you want to hear about, but, um-" Kim was about to hang up, when Marshall indicated that they should keep Nadia on the line. "I've finished going through the audiofile. It's been wired through a magnetic imaging center, so if I were to attempt to duplicate the data or transfer it, the file would completely corrode. "

"There any way around that?" Nadia asked.

"I could use one of my retrieval programs to strip mine it, but the process is so intricate it would take at least an hour to strip it down." Marshall told them. "Attempt to rush it, and we'd lose all the data anyway. "

There was something intrinsically wrong with Marshall's reasoning, but before Kim could pin it down, Michelle ran up to her. "A call's being relayed on a scrambled server. It's Payton."

Marshall ran back to the computer banks to begin what would probably be a futile attempt to trace the call. Kim gave them a few seconds before picking up the line. "This is Bauer."

"Tell your lab rats to get off the line, or I terminate the call right now."

Payton wasn't wasting any time. "You do that, you'll never get the recording."

"The difference is my employers can live without the tape. The people of LA will not survive if I introduce our little gift."

Silently, Kim ordered Marshall off the line. It probably wouldn't do much good anyway given how thoroughly Peyton had prepared for this conversation. "Fine."

"Bunker Hill Towers. Eastern side of the Freeway. Twenty minutes."

"The woman and child are of no consequence to this. Let them make the exchange."

"Compassion from a Bauer?" A dry excuse for a laugh spread over the line "Color me shocked."

"Do we have a deal or not?"

There was a long pause. "Fine. But you're going to be there to pick it up. Needless to say, I see anyone else, their deaths will only be the first you have on your conscience." And before Kim could come up with a retort, she hung up.

"You can't tell me we're going to go through with this?' Marshall demanded.

Kim actually didn't have to think more than five seconds. "We are. But our way."

CTU NEW YORK**  
**

Mulder knew very well that Purity Control was one of the earliest names referring to the alien-human hybrids, dating back at least as far as 1994. But as far as anyone on the X-Files knew that protect had gone up in smoke the same way that the rest of the Syndicate had when it had fallen to the resistance five years later. He had no idea what this project meant to anyone now.

"They pull anything else off the file they found?" he asked Scully.

"New York's busy working on it now," she told him, "but unless it provides us with an exact location, we're probably going to be chasing a ghost. "

"Scully," Edgar walked over to them. "the files pretty heavily encrypted., but we were able to pull off a couple of things right away. Looks like some kind of schematic."

Scully was still a little shocked how casually these people were able to hack into the most elite places. She had a feeling that, if Mulder wasn't still over the moon about what these people were doing, he would've been somewhat terrified of what he was seeing.

"If I'm reading this right, these are files for water mains." Sydney told them. "They're trying to poison the water supply now?"

Then it hit Scully that she had seen this before. "They don't have to," Scully was looking shell-shocked. "They already have. "

She then explained- in the briefest terms about the flouridizing plans for water that had been part of the conspiracies major attempt to make the world ready for super-soldiers. "We never did figure out how far along the conspiracy got at it," she told them, "but Follmer was still at the Bureau when we began to uncover it."

Sydney looked up at them. "Those connotations at the bottom. They're abbreviations for East Coast, not the West. I think this may be their next target."

"No, they're not," At this, everybody whirled around to look at Jack Bauer, who just as abruptly began to cough and hack up fluid. "They're not doing any more damage to this country then they've done already."

Jack slid off the gurney, lost his footing a moment, catching himself. His gaze swept the room, a slight tick in his right eye … Sydney knew it well. It softened only slightly as Nadia rushed to hug him, but the gaze was still there. Hard and burning with rage, Sydney had seen that look when he killed Nina Meyers.

Jack was back, and God help anyone who got in his way.

**4:36:13/**

**4:36:14/**

**4:36:15/**

**4:36:16**

Given what Doggett had reported, there was understandably some doubt as to whether the real Jack was facing them. Sydney almost reached for her weapon, while Scully gingerly approached him, and began examining his eyes for the black fluid. She was not comforted to find none present, but was understandably more satisfied when she found that some of the fluid on the ground was the black oil. Still, Sydney wanted to be sure that this was for real, she decided to wait until Scully finished giving him a full workup.

In the meantime, they were monitoring, through the closed circuit camera, Doggett's Q and A with Sark. Unlike previous interrogations, Sark seemed inclined to be on the level. "The water processing has been going on for years," Sark was telling Doggett. "Even if I could give you the exact locations, in the long run, you wouldn't be able to do any good. This can't just be reversed by pushing a button."

"Well, if it's such a big part of their plan, why leave it there for us to find?" Doggett asked. "Just to have us chase our tails?"

"Judging from your reaction, I'd say yes, and that it seems to be working," Sark didn't bother to give one of his all-purpose grins, but the smugness was implied.

"Is he blowing smoke?" Sydney asked Scully.

"Unfortunately, no," Scully asked. "We heard about this particular branch of the conspiracy the last year I was with the Bureau. We knew something was going on, but we weren't even able to sell anyone else."

"Assuming this is true," Jack asked "how does this relate to Henderson and Follmer? Or do we really think that they've made a run for the border?"

Scully was inclined to think they would if they were smart. The smash-and-grab had all the earmarks of the final effort to get out of the country, God knew that they were considered expendable by the conspiracy considering how many times they had failed today, and they were being hunted down by the few remaining law enforcement agencies that weren't on their side. Sydney and Nadia, however, seemed to feel otherwise.

"They have manpower, and they have Prescott and Logan," Sydney told them. "That's enough to keep them alive a little longer. What they will be looking for is assurances that they aren't killed, which means they need leverage against both of them."

"Which leads back to the recording, which they're trying to get their hands on as we speak," Nadia replied. "But if that's the case, then events really are out of their hands, and in Kelly Payton's."

Jack clearly didn't like the idea that Kim was going to have to handle this particular problem (no one quite had the nerve to tell him that she'd through in the last hour alone). He also wasn't sure whether their two nemeses would go about something so elaborate as an apparent attack on the city water as an elaborate distraction, rather than take the much safer course of running. And with what Sark was telling them (even though none of them would trust him if he said the sun was hot), this wasn't the kind of attack that they could just make.

'Is there any approach that they could take to use the virus to infect the water?" Doggett was asking.

"I don't see how," Sark replied, "As far as I know, those were parts of two complete separate biological attacks. One wouldn't affect the other."

"He's lying." Everyone jumped a little as Smith reentered.

"What is this, some kind of alien bullshit detector?" Sydney said sarcastically.

"No, but this virus is very versatile and has made many mutations," Smith replied. "The people behind this conspiracy wouldn't have made this part of the plan if they couldn't find a way to utilize it." He looked at Sydney. "I'm ready."

Jack liked the idea of this exchange even less, but he couldn't argue that they'd made the wrong call. "You sure you're up to full strength?" he asked Syd

"Look who's talking," Syd replied

Scully was almost positive there was no residual signs of the contagion, but she warned Jack to stay off his feet... as though he would listen. "However, I think there's a way that we could ferret out the truth from our resident rat."

**4:42:48/**

**4:42:49/**

**4:42:50**

"So where the hell do we find your immediate superiors?" Doggett demanded.

"Agent Doggett, as far I know they had a half dozen bases throughout the five boroughs" Sark was telling them, "and those are just the ones they told me about. I'm willing to give you a list of addresses, but the sad truth is, they could be halfway to their next fallback position."

"Why do I think you're not telling the truth?"

Sark had maintained his level of calm, but now he noticeably paled. Small wonder as he saw Jack Bauer standing over him like the Lord.

"Oh, that's right," Jack went on. "Your lips are moving. Did I mention I never thanked you for leaving that little toy surprise at the waterfront?"

"I didn't have anything to do with-"

"Shut up," Jack said quietly. "You admitted as much to Sydney and Vaughn less than three hours ago. Fuck, you tried to use it as a negotiation ploy. That's low even by your subterranean standards."

"But- but-" Sark was now reduced to monosyllables.

"I've still got some of the virus hanging around. I'm interested in seeing what happens when it affects nonhuman life." Jack was now practically on top of Sark. ""Will your skin turn to jelly or will you end up cover with radiation burns? There's a pool in the next room. Want to get in on it, John?"

"What do you want from me?" Sark half-wailed, half shouted his demand.

"What's next on Henderson and Follmer's schedule?" Doggett spoke up for the first time. "The truth, if you even know what that means!"

"The audiofile!" Sark shouted. "They're waiting for Kelly Payton to recover the hard copy. If they don't recover the file the next step is to leave a mess so big, the cleanup will be enough of a distraction for them to get out of the country!" Sark replied brokenly "A timed hit on multiple targets just before Prescott's news conference."

"Using what?" Jack demanded.

"All I know is that it had something to do with the water pipelines on the East and West Coast!" Sark spat out. "I don't know anything more specific than that, I swear!"

Doggett got to his feet, and pulled out a pad. "Their remaining points of operation," he demanded. "The ones we _haven't _blown to kingdom come. And you'd better hope that they have decided to hop a UFO."

He walked out of the room, with Jack behind him. "Glad to see the vaccine worked," he mentioned almost casually. "And while I appreciate the help, you might want to spend the next couple of hours recovering. Physically, mentally- whatever."

"John, I know it's been a long day-"

"That has nothing to do with it," Doggett replied. "See, less than two hours ago, you killed two cops and tried to kill me. I know in my head that you weren't in the driver's seat at the time, but it's going to take more than a smile and a handshake to get me all right with this. And I hope like hell you don't file and forget it, like we've done everything else today."

Jack smiled at him unpleasantly. "Agent Doggett, I didn't try to kill you today."

"Really? Then my bruises must have come from thin air then."

His eyes narrowed. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."

**4:49:44/**

**4:49:45/**

**4:49:46/**

**4:49:47**

**Bunker Hill Towers, Los Angeles**

Kim had been glad to hear that her father seemed to be recovering, but had purposely dodged a call from him. What she was going to be doing was an incredible risk- even by the standards of her family- and though her father would be mad as hell, she needed this to work perfectly if they were going to pull it off.

Four other CTU team leaders- including Curtis and Lee Castle- had been sent out to assume positions surrounding the areas of the meet. Using the advanced scanning technology they had acquired from Marshall and the two geeks they had liberated (Michelle was doing her damnedest to keep all of their new trios assistance from winding up on Divisions radar), they were able to completely flood the two miles surrounding the drop point with what amounted to sonar using the power grid. If anybody made a move within the drop point, they should be able to track it. (Kim had spent several years nudging Marshall, and even she had a hard time following this.) With this data flooding into the PDA's all the agents were carrying, they seemed to have set up an electronic net. There seemed no way for Payton to elude them. Kim should have taken this as a warning something was going to go wrong, but she had her own set of worries, and right now.

After every agent checked in, it took two minutes for another vehicle to arrive on the site. Granted, it was a humvee, but Kim had serious doubts that there was an army inside.. Infrared revealed that their were five bodies in the car, and three of them got out. None of them was Payton, but there was a woman there, and judging from the pictures it was Suzanne Byers. There was a goon on either side of her, one with a gun aimed at her head, the other at her heart.

"Here's what's going to happen," the goon on the left shouted. "She's going to step forward. You're going to hand her the audiofile. We're going to verify it's the real thing, then we'll hand over the girl. Any of you deviate, she and the little girl die- and that's just the start."

Considering how much effort she'd put into this, this was laughably easy. She knew there was a snare nearby, but Kim figured she had to play it out. "I accept your terms," she said slowly.

"Get ready to move," Curtis whispered.

"You have to help my baby," Suzanne whispered brokenly as she moved forward the fifty feet.

Kim got ready to hand the doctored disk she was going to hand over to Suzanne. And then there was a screeching sound, like magnified feedback, and she had lost contact with her team. All across the perimeter everyone was frantically checking their equipment only to be greeted with a blank screen.

The only ones who didn't seem unsettled by this were the two thugs who hit the dirt, only seconds before a rocket-propelled grenade hit the SUV that Kim had driven in. Only years of training allowed her to leap clear of the explosion. Suzanne wasn't nearly as spry and she was hit by several pieces of rubble. But it was not that caused her to shriek, but rather the fact that the vehicle that was carrying her daughter was driving away.

Kim grabbed her weapon and began firing at the two thugs, who by now had pulled out automatic weapons of their own. Despite all her training, she was not nearly as good a shot as the rest of her immediate family. It took her three bullets to take out one of them, but the second managed to grab Suzanne before she could get to them.

"Hand over the real disk or she dies here!"

Kim had been trained well, but even if she hadn't, she knew that the disk was worth the lives of everyone at CTU, certainly more than Suzanne's. But she was not a machine anymore than her father was. She couldn't allow an innocent person to die, so very carefully she took the disk out and made a big show of putting it on the ground. "How do I know you'll keep your word?" Kim demanded.

"Because we're going to be taking something far more valuable than her with us."

Kim was about to smash the disk underfoot, when she felt a pinch in the back of her neck. She had just enough time to realize she'd been tranquilized before she blacked out.

"Somebody tell me what the fuck's going on!" Michelle demanded. For the last three minutes, Marshall and the rest of CTU had been trying to raise anybody on the ground level, and were coming up with zero. The only explanation was that a miniature signal jammer had temporarily knocked out communications with Bunker Hill. How they'd known exactly how to do this was something not even the three brilliant techs had been able to explain.

Suddenly, they had audio and video again. Curtis was the first to report in, though he was as clueless as to how this had happened as anybody back at CTU. He gave them an explanation, though they could see what had happened. He could not begin to figure out how something that they had planned so well had erupted into total disaster, nor could he explain why Suzanne Byers was there apparently intact, while Kim had disappeared.

"Expand the perimeter fast before we completely lose them!" Michelle ordered, "Start tapping into every available traffic cam! I'm not about to tell Jack that I lost his daughter if there's even a chance in hell of saving her!" She ran over to Marshall. "Please tell me you tagged her with something!"

Marshall nodded. "I put a silent transmitter on one a bracelet. It'll give out a UHF signal that I should be able to track!" Before Michelle could nudge him, he started typing on his keyboard.

Just then, the main phone rang. Michelle didn't know what to expect. "Dessler," she said slowly.

"Bauer's daughter's nearly as good an actor as he is," Peyton spoke up. "Stomping on the disk - nice touch. Which of her in-laws taught her that little skill?"

"We knew you'd never go through with the exchange," Michelle snarled.

"You'll never know for sure now, will you?" Payton replied. "Millions will still pay the price. The big difference is now Kim Bauer will be the first to suffer the consequences, not Byers' wife. Be sure to tell her father that. This will be our last conversation."

And with that promise, the line went dead.

**4:59:57/**

**4:59:58/**

**4:59:59/**

**5:00:00**


	22. 5:00 AM TO 6:00 AM

Chapter 21

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 5:00 A.M AND 6:00 A.M.

No one in LA was in a hurry to tell Jack what had happened to his daughter. Jack was on the opposite end of the country, and he would probably be inclined to fly across the country in the first plane he could steal. Not to mention that Jack had been possessed by an alien consciousness; his mind had felt like it was only a passenger controlling the actions of his body, and not having control was not something Jack was used to. The blood on his hands he could live with- Christ knew that he'd been dealing with that for years- the loss of control was far worse. Because Jack always worried about losing control

Nadia walked over to her husband. As someone who knew better than perhaps anyone else the burdens that Jack dealt with, she also knew how taciturn he could get.

"Wish you were dealing with Rimbaldi again?" she mentioned casually and only half in jest.

"Hell, at least then, we knew who the fuck the enemy was," Jack mumbled. "We weren't in the middle of this Ed Wood bullshit. Good aliens, bad aliens, cloning, I don't even know what to call Prescott."

There was another thing Nadia didn't want to deal with. They'd wanted to restore Jack precisely to deal with this kind of problem, but even if Mulder's little scheme to restore David Palmer to full health actually worked, they could be dealing with a constitutional crisis. None of them had heard what explanations Prescott was going to come up with, but based on organization time, they had to be prepared for this eventuality

"Did you talk to Kim?" Jack asked.

Nadia hadn't checked on what was happening in LA either; they had enough on their plate as it was. "She's concerned, as always, but she wants to get this mess cleaned up as badly as you do." She only smiled. "I guess that runs in the family."

This actually got a half smile out of Jack. Jack then sighed. "I guess things can't get much worse."

Nadia shrugged. "There could always be vampires."

Jack gave her a look that bordered on credulity. "If they're next, I'm going home."

"No not worry, I will let you know if The Lost Boys come out."

Jack blinked. "Who?"

He was about to add something, when the phone rang. Nadia counted to five before answering. She had an idea who it was, and it was confirmed when she listened for five more seconds.

**En Route to LaGuardia from DC**

After making sure that Agent Harrison was going to be protected while receiving treatment at George Washington, Wayne Palmer had spent the next several hours trying to get a flight out of DC - no small task. Ironically, it was Prescott's announced flight to New York that provided a window that he managed to find a way under the noses of the government- with a little help from Chloe, of course.

Chloe could have opted to stay behind, but she'd be damned if she was going to stay behind in DC, where it seemed like half the federal government was trying to kill her. They'd be trying to do so in New York, of course, but at least there she'd have more than adequate protection.

Now, less than fifteen minutes out of New York air space, they were finally getting information- news of another assassination attempt.

"Do you have any definitive proof?" Wayne finally cut to the guts of the matter.

"We have suspicions, the word of an accomplice, and whatever data that Chloe and Agent Harrison managed to dig up," Jack told them. "But it's not a slam dunk against Prescott or Logan, even if all concerned were on the straight and narrow."

Chloe could tell the Congressman didn't want to believe this, but if the Vice-President was capable of pulling this off, he'd have to at least consider that none of the people in the administration could be trusted now.

"But the fact is, if your brother resumes his presidency, we have effectively cut the legs out from under this conspiracy," Jack told them. "At the very least, it'll help run some of the big fish to ground."

"These people have seen fit to attempt murders when the half the federal government is on the premises," the Congressman pointed out. "By now, you should know that they don't scare easily."

This was a valid point, and Chloe could tell that Jack was clearly holding something back. Given what Agent Harrison had told her about the X-Files, she didn't want to imagine what that could be - the Cabinet was being people by cannibalistic Venusians was the least she had imagined so far.

"The doctors at Sinai have done a lot of good work," Wayne Palmer told them. "They say my brother could completely recover from this in a matter of weeks. And even if your man makes it like nothing ever happened, that will set off a whole new series of alarms. I know that political ramifications are not part of your work, but I think right now they'd better be, or we might as well just give the Speaker the job right now."

Now how do you tell an elected official that unless he risks the life of his only brother, there's a very good chance that aliens will take over the world? As dire as the circumstances were, Jack wasn't willing to give in to that degree of the madness yet. "Congressman," he said instead, "regardless of whatever actions we take here, I expect the situation will escalate in a matter of hours. You're going to be on the ground soon enough; will you be willing to reconsider the issue when we can have a face to face?"

Wayne knew that Jack wouldn't be arguing for this kind of drastic measure unless the situation was equally dire. "You goddamn well better have something concrete by then," he told them.

"Bristow and Smith arrived three minutes ago," the informant told them. "I got to tell you the protections so solid, we're probably only going to get a shot at one of them."

Henderson considered this for a moment. "Aim for Smith," he finally ordered. "They'll spend more time cleaning up that mess than dealing with us."

**5:09:36/5:09:37/5:09:38**

**Los Angeles, Undisclosed Location**

Whatever tranquilizers they had used on Kim were having an odd effect on her senses- she was having trouble focusing, and could only hear bits and pieces of conversation around her. However, she didn't need much of either to tell that she was bound securely and had a gag in her mouth.

"not going... leverage.. thousand miles away." She couldn't tell much about the first speaker, aside that it was male and agitated.

"...yours... have been... better...give us much..." The speaker was female, and though she couldn't swear to it, it was probably Kelly Payton.

By now, her vision was starting to clear up, but what she was seeing wasn't particularly useful. She was in some kind of warehouse that had some high tech computer equipment. Beyond that generality, there was nothing that could even hit as to how long she'd been out or where she was. The only other thing that she could tell was that she wasn't being watched that closely, which meant they either didn't consider her much of a danger, or they cared so little about what she learned because they were planning to kill her. She hoped it was the former, and arguing against the latter was why they had bothered with such an elaborate attempt to grab her.

"Even with the recording, there's very little CTU can do in LA, and all it does in New York is give Jack another reason to arrest me, and we all know he has no intention of doing that."

That narrowed down the speaker to either Follmer or Henderson, probably the latter.

"Let Logan twist in the wind a little while longer, then make your play for it." Henderson continued. "As for Bauer... are you ready to go forward?"

Kim had been trying to loosen her bonds for the last thirty seconds- they'd secured with laundry cords- strong rope, but rope nevertheless, but she couldn't help but stiffen a little at this last remark.

"The catalyzing agent is almost finished," Payton replied. "Another five minutes, and we'll be ready."

Henderson barked a laugh. "You'd better find a good place to hide. Jack learns what you're planning, he'll scour the earth for your ass."

"Then you'd better goddamn finish him off," if Payton was nervous she gave little sign of it. "'Cause you're closer to him, and he'll skin you alive."

With that Payton terminated her phone call, and looked to her left- not at Kim. "Since Agent Bauer's clearly been up for awhile, you might do will to make sure she stays fucking put." Though not on the level of her father's, Kim's reactions were quick, she managed to still her motions two seconds before two of the thugs working with Payton walked over to her, guns out.

"Glad to see you up and about, Miss Bauer," Payton said as she turned.

"You'll forgive me for not returning the sentiment," Kim replied.

"Considering the enormous amount of trouble you've caused the last several hours, I wasn't being sincere." Payton's face grew very hard. "At least now we can cut the shit, and get down the business."

"If you're going to kill me, get it over with," Kim was a little surprised that she managed to say this with a level tone.

Payton actually managed a look of surprise at this. "You obviously heard our conversation," she reminded him. "Did the word 'kill' enter into it at all?" Kim actually hesitated at this. "When this day started, we had great plans. Most of them have fallen apart, but we can still eek out a victory. And while we didn't really need you as part of it, there's a certain irony to this that my colleagues would appreciate."

This was the bloodthirsty behavior that had gotten her mother killed. Despite herself, she tried to free herself. One of the thugs smacked her in the head with the butt of his gun.

"You don't die, Agent Bauer. No, you get to live." Payton was managing a grin. "And by the time you realize what it is we're going to do, when it's said and done, you'll wish I'd been merciful and shot you."

**5:15:12/5:15:13/5:15:14**

**Mt. Sinai**

Mulder hadn't liked being kept in limbo for this long. Vaughn had managed to clear things up with Pierce and the rest of Secret Service, but it was very clear they didn't want to release him into anyone's custody, even with someone they trusted.. From their point of view, it made sense, but Mulder was having enough trouble coming at things from his own point of view. It hadn't helped matters that Samantha now seemed to have disappeared into the ether, and there was no sign of Henderson or Follmer. Considering that, Mulder realized he was probably the most solid villain anybody in authority had been able to look at all day.

All things considered, he was relieved when Sydney emerged from the elevator with Jeremiah Smith in tow. His relief didn't begin to match Vaughn, who practically bowled him over to embrace his wife.

"This just keeps getting uglier," he mentioned between squeezing her.

"I think it's why we got the desk jobs in the first place," Sydney actually managed to chuckle as she said this. "But I think that if we hold on a little longer, this madness will be over."

How often had Mulder wished he'd been able to say this to Scully. Even knowing what he did about what their lives had been like before they met yesterday, he didn't have the heart to tell them it probably wouldn't be. But he had a feeling that they knew this as well, so he decided to let this pass.

Instead, he focused on the one man that he'd known longer. Smith actually seemed less at ease than most of the Secret Service. "Do you sense any more of them?" he asked bluntly.

Smith was silent for several seconds. "No," he finally answered. "None, good or ill. But that doesn't mean that there still isn't a threat present."

There were all kinds of implications for this, but there were three Secret Service still watching them - not his ideal audience. He looked at Sydney, who had finished up her embrace, and was willing to get down to business. "Could you give us a minute, please?" she asked.

It was still several seconds before they moved, and even then it was just to an adjoining room- still, he thought that it was close to private as they were going to get.

"Aliens aren't the only ones who want me dead, Mr. Mulder," Smith reminded him. "We risk all kinds of exposure by coming out into the open, even in as limited a way as Agent Bristow would have me do."

The cover story that Sydney and Jack had been working out since Mulder had brought forth the idea was that Smith was one of the most highly ranked neurological experts in the world, and that his methods would be a significant aide to David Palmer. Only a limited circle would ever know exactly what Smith was going to do.

"We've been doing background checks on most of the personnel for the last couple of hours," Vaughn pointed out. "It should be impossible for a sleeper to even get into Secret Service, much less this particular detail." He didn't add that it was almost as difficult to get one into CTU, and they'd dealt with more than their share of moles.

"The threat can come just as easily from without as it can from within," Smith followed up. "The people in power managed to prove it when they got to Palmer the first time."

"We can't spend anymore time dithering over this," Sydney replied. "We have larger problems to deal with-" _than the President's life? _Mulder thought, but did not say- "and we need to hurry before the body count gets any higher."

Mulder considered this. "Have your agents do one more sweep of the surrounding buildings. Humor me," he added quickly before either agent could interrupt.

It would not have comforted Mulder to know that his instincts were more on point then he knew, for in the building parallel to Sinai, the assassin known as Mandy had slit the throat of a security guard two floors down, and had gotten into the room where Henderson had told her to be in position.

Even given everything that had happened, she suspected that she'd only have time for one shot, but she'd make it count. And even if she missed- she'd gotten out of far tighter spots, metaphorical and otherwise.

**5:22:46/5:22:47/5:22:48**

**CTU LOS ANGELES**

Despite the fact that Marshall could normally do things with technology just short of building a radio out of coconuts and tree bark, it was somewhat disturbing that it was taking so long for them to find the transmitter he had placed on Kim before she had gone on the now disastrous rescue mission. Michelle was beginning to wonder if these people really were at his level when they finally started getting a signal.

"Stationary or moving?" Michelle demanded. Both options had negative possibilities connected to them, but she'd feeling a lot better knowing that Kim was walking.

"Can't tell yet." Another long five seconds before Marshall answered. "La Cienega Boulevard, looks like she's heading east."

Michelle got on the radio. Curtis raised the question connected with the fact that Kim was moving- why would they go to all this trouble to grab her just to release Kim less than twenty minutes later, wasn't it more likely that Payton found the transmitter, and had stapled to a homeless person, if it walks like a trap and talks like a trap-

"We don't have much else in the way of leads," Michelle pointed out. "And there may well be another impending biological threat coming in the next couple of hours."

There was a slight pause. "You really don't want to tell Jack we lost his daughter again," Curtis pointed out.

"That too."

Kim Bauer watched Payton and company prepare what looked like enough chemicals to float a pharmacy. The problem was, she was concerned that most of it was supposed to go into her, which would have been a cute trick … thought it would probably be easier if they just drained her blood, ran it through a dialysis machine, and replaced all of her blood with the chemicals... _And why did I have to think about that?_

She let out a sigh. A loud one.

"Are we boring you?" Peyton asked.

Kim blinked. "Yeah, pretty much."

"You should be in so much fear right now, I can't even being to –"

"Oh, will you shut up? Do you know how many self-aggrandizing nutjobs and perverts I've had to deal with over the years? Just shut up and torture me to death already."

Peyton blinked. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Trust me, you get held hostage by Julian Sark for an hour or two; you're ready to kill him by the fifth time he flirts with you."

Peyton smiled. "That sounds like him."

"And here I thought Sark had taste."

The smile faded. "Shut her up, would you?"

The guard who had smacked her in the head before took another swing …

And Kim was ready.

Kim threw herself backwards in the chair so hard the chair went a whole hundred and eighty degrees, throwing the chair legs into the air- and causing the pistol to whip into one of the chair legs holding Kim's leg, shattering it.

Before gravity could take hold of the chair, Kim kicked out with her leg, tipping her over in a backwards roll. The chair's remaining forward leg broke during the roll, and the full impact of Kim's body was absorbed by only two chair legs and the back of the chair. Kim pushed herself up to a half-stand, and ran backwards, slamming the remains of the chair into another guard.

The chair had had enough, and fell away from Kim, the only parts still connected to her were parts of the legs held to her ankles, and the arms of the chair connected to her arms by duct tape.

The guard who had struck her before had just recoiled his pistol, and blinked. His mind had not yet absorbed what had happened. His highly secured prisoner had been there less than a second ago, and now appeared to be free, upright and charging right at him.

It was easy for Kim to swing the arms of the chair around so she could grab them with her hands. One came down on the guard's gunwrist, shattering it, and the second came across his fast, forward and backhanded. She delivered a swift groin kick as a finisher.

Kim dropped flat to the ground, landing on the guard's back, and she grabbed his assault rifle. She didn't even bother unslinging it from his body, just rotated it and started firing, using his body as cover.

Payton had seen everything after the first guard had been dispatched, and had quickly run the odds of reaching Kim before she became a serious hazard. By the time Kim had closed with her makeshift escrima sticks, Payton had taken the wise move and dove for cover behind one of the work tables.

Payton had been about ready to signal to her other forces around the room when the spread of Kim's weapon's fire caught a small oxygen tank. The resulting explosion ripped out a part of the wall, blasted a guard off of his feet, and the shrapnel shredded through two others.

"Crap!"

Back at the other side of the room, Kim finally ran out of bullets in the rifle. Her other hand latched onto the gunman's sidearm and took it away with her as she rolled back to the first gunman she dispatched. She was about to reach for his belt of grenades when she discovered something interesting …

_Oh look, grenades._

The resulting explosions created enough smoke that Kim rolled to one side, and started running without any bullets actually getting near her. She swept up the two pistols, and carried them, one in each hand.

It wasn't enough to prevent Peyton from leaping out of the smoke, and jabbing a needle into Kim Bauer's spin.

Kim screamed so loudly, she was almost certain everyone could find her by the sound, even over the gunfire. She spun, slapping Peyton to one side, and she kept running out of the building.

When Kim finally stopped running, she recognized where she was, that her cell phone and weapon were gone, and that she was still wearing Marshall's present- his bracelet-transmitter. Beyond that, she had no idea what exactly Payton and her goons had done to her- she wasn't bleeding and there were no visible scars or track marks. She also knew that Peyton hadn't let her go out of the goodness of that lump of charcoal that was her heart. Something else was in play, but she didn't have an idea as to what.

A quick surveillance of the area revealed that there was nobody else on the street - not hard to believe considering it was the middle of the night on a day which had been immensely scarring to this country. Right now, her best bet was to find a phone and try and contact Michelle or Curtis, and get assistance. If she'd somehow been turned into a Patient Zero- Kim cut off that line of thinking right there. She'd worry about that if and when there was evidence to the contrary.

She got inside a 7-11 and made her call to CTU - Marshall would be able to triangulate her location faster than she could figure it out. The usually hyperbolic tech was a little more subdued than usual, which meant he either was or had been really worried. "Do you have any idea what the hell they're up to?" he asked.

"That file we downloaded before everything started going to hell; my Dad have any idea what the hell Purity Control meant?"

The lateness of the hour had done nothing to affect Marshall's powers of recall. "Only that it was some of virus - a project capable of merging human and alien DNA," Only Marshall could deliver that line and make it sound plausible, even after what she was hearing about in New York. "But his intel indicated that the project had been discontinued for years, and that the technology was well beyond the reach of any normal person."

That had a lot of unpleasant implications. Kim was about to remark on that, when suddenly the glass surrounding the window of the convenience store shattered. Reflexes took over and Kim ducked and rolled before realizing that she didn't have a weapon.

The manager of the store was prone on the ground. Kim looked around, and saw a nervous looking gunman looking at the cash register. "You really don't want to do this," she said gently.

"Take a hike, cheerleader, " the gunman spat at her.

Without thinking, Kim did one of her kicks at the guys wrist. She had only used a modicum of force, but the reaction was shocking - the gun man went flying into the magazine aisle, with his arm hanging at an awkward angle.

That wasn't what had Kim concerned, however. What worried was that there was a shard of glass buried in her leg up to the knee, and she hadn't felt it at all. She knew the limits of adrenaline, but that didn't explain the lack of blood.

What the fuck was going on with her?

**5:30:08/5:30:09/5:30:10/5:30:11**

**MT. SINAI**

**"**Wayne Palmer had agreed to go along with this," Jack was telling Sydney. "Believe me when I tell you this was a hard sell."

"Jack, you saw this work first-hand," Sydney replied. "I can't believe you have qualms."

"Have you convinced Aaron Pierce about what he'll have to do?"

"If anything, he's more unhappy than we are," Sydney said. "The last few hours have been a shock to his system. He'll stay the course, but the President better come through this okay."

Jack didn't what have the Secret Service man pissed at him either- they'd been through a lot over the years, and they shared similar beliefs in a lot of ways. His anger was not something he wanted on his conscience.

"They've swept the building," Vaughn said, coming off the radio.

"Then let's get this done," Sydney replied. "Mr. Smith, if you'd be good enough to follow me."

Jeremiah Smith didn't seem significantly reassured by what he'd been told, and proceeded to the room the President was being maintained in.

Aaron Pierce had been told the cover story, and was understandably upset when Vaughn and Sydney had told him that because of the complexity of the medical procedures, all Secret Service would have to vacate. The fact that Syd and Vaughn would be in the room didn't counterbalance the fact that two unknowns, one of whom had been accused of multiple terrorist activity long before yesterday, would be within inches of a vulnerable Commander-In-Chief. But the conversation with the Congressman had finally convinced him to relent. Even so, he made it clear he was going to be right outside the door. "The country's fate may be in this man's hands," Aaron finally replied, not knowing how accurate his phrasing was. "Don't make me regret this decision."

There were several seconds before Smith finally seemed prepared to do what he had to. He walked up David Palmer's bed, and positioned his right hand just over the President's head. The EKG, which had been emitting its suitable pattern of beeps, momentarily accelerated, then steadied again.

Mulder had seen the man work much faster before, so he seemed a little concerned. "Is this working?" he asked.

"We'd better hope it has," Smith replied.

And a split second later, a bullet shattered the glass of the rooms lone window.

Sydney and Vaughn managed to hit the ground; Mulder, older and never possessed of lightning-fast reflexes in his prime, moved slower, which meant that he was the one who got covered in the greenish compound that just a few seconds earlier had been Jeremiah Smith.

He had just taken this in, when Aaron Pierce smashed the door in. "What happened?"

It took a few seconds for that to be established. Whoever the assassin was, he had not taken advantage of the confusion to fire a bullet or two into the President, or anyone else in the room, for that matter. Smith seemed to have been the sole target.

"I thought that the building across the way had been cleared!" Sydney shouted as she pulled her weapon.

"Order a Level 2 search!" Vaughn ordered of Pierce. "Shut down every building within a ten block radius! Make sure that the all traffic going anywhere is stopped and searched within the next five miles! Get Edgar on the line, and have him triangulate the exact location of the gun shot" He started running outside. "The bastard's gotten past us once before! It's not fucking happening again!"

All of this happened so fast that it took Mulder several moments to find his feet. Several thoughts registered in his mind simultaneously. He'd set up their best lead on this conspiracy to be killed. Smith had known this, and had gone about his duty saving the President anyway- more blood, so to speak, on his hands. And one more thing.

"They're cleaning up loose ends," He had to repeat himself because his ears were still ringing from the glass breaking. And he knew exactly where one of those loose ends was.

He dialed Scully. "Is the President dead?" she demanded.

"No, but right now, we've got bigger fish to fry." Before Scully could even blink at this. "They're picking up after themselves Which means that Sark is going to be next."

**5:37:19/5:37:20/5:37:21**

**CTU NY**

When Scully told Jack and Nadia what had happened, they were understandably dubious- CTU had been in a state of lockdown since Sydney had left an hour ago, and neither would be crying crocodile tears if Sark did end up dead. But it seemed that things were starting to go to hell yet again, and they had no intention of letting anything else go wrong, especially with this Type A turncoat.

Sark apparently realized something was wrong the second that he saw them. "Whatever happened in the last few minutes isn't my fault," he began.

"Did you know that there was another assassination attempt planned?" Jack demanded.

"No, but it shouldn't have come as a shock," Sark replied. "These people finish what they start."

"Would they try and do it themselves?" Nadia demanded.

"You know they're not that foolish," Sark countered. "Besides, they're probably trying to make sure the final stages of their plan are in action."

"Purity Control," Jack replied. "Which is going to be unleashed where exactly?"

"I already told you I don't know," Sark was clearly recovering from his fear of Jack; he actually had the tenacity to sound annoyed. "They barely kept me appraised of who they were really working for. Why should I know specifics?"

This was a valid point, but like everything Sark said, Nadia was inclined to dismiss it. "Why haven't they done anything yet?"

Sark actually thought for a moment. "They kept having disagreements about this project. Henderson said that the only way he'd go along with it is if they ran a beta test."

This didn't make much sense - and then, horribly, it did. "That's what they're planning in LA," Jack realized. "We need to talk with Kim. Now."

LA CINUEGA BLVD

LOS ANGELES

Kim Bauer was no longer the kind of woman who fell into hysterics when she was faced with something potentially horrible. But for the first time in a very long time, she was beginning to feel that old part of herself bubbling to the surface.

It didn't help matters that Curtis, for the first time, was showing genuine signs of worry. He was trying to mask it by trying to get whatever information he could out of her about Payton, but every few seconds, his eyes kept traveling back to that shard of glass that was still in her knee.

The medic was insisting that they needed to take Kim to a hospital. Kim knew that this was a good idea, but couldn't get herself to go along with it yet. There was no pain, which frightened her a bit. What worried her even more was finding out what Payton had done to her. Fear of the unknown was canceling out fear of the known.

"We can narrow down where they were keeping you to within a half-mile radius," Curtis told her. "Is there anything else that you can tell us about where you were being kept?"

"Check in with the cell towers over the last thirty minutes," Kim thought out loud. "She was having a very long conversation with her contacts in New York, and she hasn't had nearly enough time to cover her tracks."

By now, the medic was about to take her into the ambulance. "Agent Bauer, you're risking major damage to that leg if you don't get it looked at," he told her.

Kim was willing to argue the point, but Curtis, who could've fought for her, told them to take her. He was definitely needed elsewhere, but she was beginning to wonder if he didn't want to get away from her. Reluctantly, she decided to go along with it.

As they continued to examine her, Kim asked if they could tell if this thing had hit bone. "It's not buried that deep," the medic replied, "but for all we know, the glass may have hit an artery."

"Why am I not feeling any pain then?" she asked. "The glass has to have hit some nerves going in."

"We're not going to know for sure until we do an x-ray," the medic countered.

More tests. Suddenly, without understanding the impulse, she reached out her hand, grabbed the protruding end of the glass, and yanked it out. The medics were understandably shocked, and began hastening to plug up the gushing blood. Kim didn't even move. She just watched as the blood stopped pooling, and the sizable hole magically came back together, without even leaving a mark. "What the fuck-" the medic.

"Stop the van," Kim said numbly.

"But we- we have to find out what's wrong-?"

"I'm going to find the person who did this to me," Kim replied coolly, sounding more like her father than she ever had. "And when I do, I'm going to kill her."

**5:46:32/5:46:33/5:46:34/5:46:35**

**Surrounding Buildings of Mt. Sinai**

In the midst of the chaos, Edgar had come through in the clutch. He had found the exact room in the building to their northeast where the bullet had come from. Within three minutes, the building was sealed off, and Sydney began a floor by floor search. It would seem impossible for the assassin to escape their clutches, but that's what Jack had thought when they had tried to kill the President the first time.

Bearing that in mind, she ordered the Secret Service to seal off all points of egress that they might have missed before- windows, fire escapes, paths into the building's basement. Fortunately, it wasn't as big as the hotel the President had been staying in, and there was only a single elevator this time. The odds against the assassin escaping this time were very high- but Sydney had faced similar situations and come out on the other side.

"Where are we on satellite?" she demanded. Edgar had retasked one over this area an hour ago as a precaution.

"Hang on," There was another one of those very long pauses. "I've got a single moving body on the ninth floor, heading towards the eastern stairwell."

Some people would have felt alarm being hunted down like so much wild game. Mandy felt only the slightest sense of deja vu. She had fewer ways out of this particular trap, but she'd come with more toys this time. They might have a small army here, but she was more than prepared to climb over every body in order to get out.

When she heard the first sounds of footsteps, she got out her little present- a flash grenade.

The first three agents were halfway down the hall before the explosion hit. Sydney was just turning the corner or she'd have been blinded as well. As it was, she had just enough time to race back several steps before the stream of bullets began to fly through the air.

_Fuck! _She got on the radio, and demanded backup. Considering there were five other agents with her, this probably qualified as excess, but she would be damned if she let this killer vanish out from under her nose. She pulled her mini-Glock and began firing down the hall, trying to pin the killer down.

After laying down enough covering fire to take out a small battalion, Mandy whirled around and headed for the stairway. This time she laid down another small present- an ounce of C4 with a computerized timer counting down from twenty. She activated it, and started running.

Sydney was halfway down the hallway went she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that looked dangerous. As she ran past it, she hollered a warning to the people behind her. Two of the agents in front reacted, but an instant too late. The force of the resulting explosion was enough to nearly vaporize them. She was dropping them like flies, and they didn't even have the benefit of a shoot-to-kill on her.

However, she had one advantage. They had people guarding each of the last three floors of the stairwell she was headed for. There would very soon be nowhere left for her to run.

Mandy figured by now they had to have a small army at the bottom level of the building, but she had not come this far to be pinned down now. She waited until she was on the next to last level, then pulled out a normal grenade. She pulled the pin, and threw it into the crevice, then started running towards the exit on the second floor.

She had made it halfway down the hallway, when suddenly two agents were standing in front of her, guns pointed directly at her head. One of them was an infuriated Vaughn.

"We could give you points for effort," he said bitterly, "but since that effort included killing six agents, I think we'll pass on that. Now put up your hands."

This should have been the end, but Mandy still had one more surprise, literally up her sleeve. She raised her arms skyward, and dropped her gun. She then waited for the other agent to come up and pat her down.

Vaughn had an inkling that this wasn't all of the woman's tricks, but his warning shout came a split second too late, as Mandy buried a switchblade in the agent's neck. He knew he couldn't kill her without squeezing her dry of information, so he very carefully shot her in the shoulder. This bitch was tough- she didn't even drop the knife. He had no intention of getting so much as an inch closer to her until he could-

Then he saw another sight out of the corner of his eye, and hoped like hell he was remaining absolutely stone-faced. Mandy's attention seemed to be focused on getting to her feet, and attacking him, but apparently she was better at keeping her balance then he was, because just as Sydney walked up to her and put her gun to the back of her neck, Mandy hurled the switchblade through the air. His reflexes were good enough, but it still only missed him by an inch.

"Thanks," he told his wife. "I'm good at this, but getting impaled twice in one day isn't a lot of fun."

Sydney gave a brief smile, then went back to business. "I know you," she demanded. "Where have we met before?"

It was a rhetorical question; Vaughn was ninety-nine percent sure that this was the same woman who'd triggered the bomb that had brought the President to the hospital in the first place.

The strange thing about this assassin was that she was … cute. As in puppy dogs and rabbits cute. Button nose, petite frame … until you paid attention to the deep, cold eyes that made ice feel warm.

"I'm not telling you jack shit," Mandy replied.

Sydney had expected as much. The problem was now what did they do with her. They could interrogate her, but considering how much effort she'd put towards escaping, getting information would take awhile, and considering that the only person who could legitimately offer her some kind of deal was in a hospital bed because of her, making a deal was off the market, even if the Secret Service wasn't ready to execute her.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Sydney replied. "Go back to the hospital. Get some baraglite and adrenalin. We're going to find out what this bitch knows as efficiently as possible. "

**5:55:27/5:55:28/5:55:29**

Mulder had not liked being left behind on this particular mission, and he couldn't help but think this was his penalty for even suggesting that Smith be used in such a way. Now the alien was dead, the President, though showing signs of improvement, was still unconscious, and given the way that the Secret Service was reaction, his tit was the one that was in the wringer.

Now, given the way that Agent Pierce was reacting, it seemed that they had finally tracked down the assassin, but he didn't think that this was going to help him very much.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar buzzing sound It took him quite a few seconds to realize what was making the noise. It was the earpiece that Samantha had given him almost three hours earlier, and that had been dead quiet ever since the second assassination attempt had failed. He waited a few moment before answering, thinking _What the fuck. Maybe she can get me out of this mess._

"Please tell me that you want to discuss changing my long-distance carrier," he said as he tapped the device.

"We are facing a major problem that requires outside assistance," Samantha replied.

"What's alien for 'Go fuck yourself?'" Mulder replied.

This actually seemed to give Samantha pause. "Do I need to remind you what these people are capable of?" she countered.

"No, I've gotten a very clear picture of that," Mulder replied. "But all that following your advice has gotten me is a room full of agents who probably wouldn't mind if I 'died trying to escape.'

Again Samantha considered this. "The President is due at the UN in a little more than two hours," she reminded him.

"My efforts to fix that have spectacularly backfired," Mulder told her. "But I'm guessing you know that too. Really if you want someone to clean up this mess, you might want to try someone in a better position to help you."

"We've tried that and Jeffrey Spender ended up dead," Samantha replied. "You're not the only ones taking casualties."

"What do you want, Samantha?" Mulder demanded.

"There've been some incidents in Los Angeles that will affect Henderson and Follmer's plans."

_That's one way of putting it, _Mulder thought but didn't say. "What kind ?"

"If what they've been doing works as planned, everything you and CTU did to save Manhattan could be for nothing.

LOS ANGELES

Kim Bauer didn't know that Kelly Payton _had _discovered the tracking device Marshall had put on her, but had left it on because that had better served their interests. She had also had the good sense to vacate her hideout for a mobile one where she could continue to monitor the situation. She had managed to stay abreast of all police and radio reports over a modified scanner. What she had heard sounded good, but she knew the people in New York needed more than that.

Now, as CTU tried to breach the corporal's guard she had left behind, she watched, through a fiber optic connection as one of her people took a shot at Kim, and hit her in the thigh. Kim took him down, but not before her camera revealed the bullet holes sealing itself up, and the blood disappearing. In the chaos on the ground, she was the only one who noticed.

She got on the phone to New York. "The catalyzing agent was a success," she told Henderson. "We're ready to moving into the final phase."

**5:59:57/5:59:58/5:59:59/6:00:00**


	23. 6:00 AM TO 7:00 AM

**CHAPTER 22**

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 6:00 A.M. AND 7:00 A.M.**

When Jack learned that his daughter had been held hostage by Payton, it had taken almost all of Doggett's energy to keep him from tearing Sark apart. John knew that reason wasn't going to hold much weight, but he was certain that he was trying to kick the crap out of the closest proxy, and right now that was Sark. Even learning that Kim was fine, it took him a considerable amount of effort to bring Jack down from the cliff he was on.

Still Nadia and Doggett knew that he was going to pursue Henderson and Follmer with all the intensity of a rabid bloodhound, and right now, he didn't have any target. Sydney's call that they had the assassin in custody at least gave him something to focus on. Scully had protested that they still weren't clear that he'd flushed the virus out of his system, but it seemed a half-hearted argument - apparently, she'd gotten used to losing these battles to Mulder. However, rather than have Doggett accompany him on their way to the hospital, she insisted on coming instead. "Given the amount of pain that you end up inflicting on yourselves, you need someone to make sure that you don't fall apart when someone bumps into you," she told him. Jack decided not to argue- besides, Scully had proven that she could take care of herself.

They were less than five minutes out of CTU when another call came, this time it was Mulder.

Scully put Mulder and speakerphone, and nearly yelled, "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," Mulder told her, "Given how everybody is reacting about this assassin, my guess is that Cardinal Bristow and her fellow priests are bringing out the soft cushions for her. Which I don't object to personally, but it's a waste of time and resources." Mulder smiled. "However, five minutes ago, my sister called me, and it wasn't just so that she could update her Christmas card list. Henderson and Follmer are preparing to make one final attack sometime in the next two hours."

"More intel from the 'thanks, but we already knew that' camp," Scully reminded them.

"This time, she had details," Mulder paused. "That fluoridation of water that Smith told us about, the one that you said you investigated with Doggett when you were still on the X-Files? In the final stages of the colonization stratagems, the water can be activated to transform the drinkers into super-soldiers. However, in order to do this, they would need a catalyzing agent, which apparently, they now have."

"That much we figured out," Scully paused. "Did Samantha have anything she couldn't have pulled out of our databases?"

"How about a possible location for them to introduce it to the water?"

_You couldn't have led with that? _"Where?" Scully asked instead.

Mulder considered this. "She said that they would need to introduce in a water filtration plant. According to here, the three sites with the greatest potential were included in that data Kim Bauer pulled out of Omnicron a few hours back."

"Which one?" Jack demanded.

"All of them, Agent Bauer," Mulder replied. "These people were prepared to decimate New York. They're going for the highest infection ratio possible."

Jack's only surprise was that he hadn't considered this as a possibility a couple of hours ago. "Get in touch with Sydney and Vaughn, pull them off the killer for a couple of minutes. We'll contact Edgar, have him start running some figures. Unless your sister would be willing to give us some more details?"

"You can have a face-to-face with her soon enough," Mulder replied. "She wants to meet me in ten minutes. That's the main reason I called. Someone needs to get the Secret Service off my ass."

Scully actually thought Mulder could only benefit from having a team of people watching her every move, but decided it would only give Mulder a new challenge. "Is there a water treatment plant nearby?"

"You're the ones with the maps of the city," Mulder countered. "But don't worry. I learned my lesson. I'm not going anywhere with my sister without proper protection."

Why didn't Scully really believe that? Oh yes, everything she knew about the man she loved. Wisely, however, she kept from saying that aloud.

**Outside Mt Sinai**

Forced between dealing with the woman who'd try to kill the President, and the one who'd basically allowed her to be tortured and left for dead, Sydney was more inclined to go with the devil she_ didn't_ know. But she also knew that she wasn't going to be able to bend, spindle or mutilate the information she wanted out of Mandy - this woman was a survivor, who could probably take whatever Sydney could throw at her. So if they couldn't deal or torture the information they needed out of her, Sydney figured that they'd have to go with a third option - try and hand her back over to the people that would kill her, even more slowly and painfully, then she would like to.

"You really think that taking her is the best option," Vaughn reminded her.

"This is a much better lead," Sydney reminded him. "And I'm sure Henderson will be thrilled to see her."

For the briefest of moments, Mandy's brow creased - the first sign of any emotion that they had gotten out of her since they'd caught her. Then her poker face was back up.

"I still think that we're not bringing enough people." Vaughn told her.

"We don't even know if we're near the promised land yet," Sydney replied. "Besides, you honestly think we're going to find an agent in this city who can be impartial, given how high a body count she's registered in the last half hour alone?"

Vaughn was about to say that he and Syd should probably be on that same list, but realize he'd be giving away far more than he wanted to about the situation.

Just then, Syd's cell rang. It was Edgar. He'd managed to do some fancy maneuvering with the keyboard, and finally came out with the exact geographic coordinates for the nearest pipeline - it was located under a treatment plant about halfway down the upper West Side

"What's the worst case scenario here?"

"In addition to the three main targets, Samantha gave us the locations of four secondary targets" Edgar told them grimly. "If all of them are infected, all of the five boroughs would be infected, and there's no guarantee we could shut it down well enough to limit the damage to this state."

"And as a bonus, there's no guarantee that Henderson or Follmer will be at any of them," Vaughn told her.

The odds weren't the grimmest they'd faced all day, but they were still an easier problem than deal with the face-off between the two Presidents. Sydney made her choice. "Vaughn, take Mulder. Go to the coordinates that Edgar gave us. We got to get the jump on this. Take Mandy with you. See if getting closer to the action will make her sing a little"

"What about you?"

The briefest of smiles crossed Sydney's face. "I'm going to catch up with Mulder's sister. Thank her for everything the resistance has done for us. And I'm sure when Jack gets here, he'll be just as happy as I am."

**6:09:52/6:09:53/6:09:54**

**Los Angeles**

Kim still hadn't told anybody about why she was here, and everyone seemed to be accepting her statement that her injuries hadn't been that severe. Curtis was looking at her funny, but considering they had been in the process of grabbing Payton's crew.

Now that they had grabbed the place and found that the dozen or so people they had killed had been defending the empty shell of a building, people were starting to ask questions. None of them involved Kim yet, but she was beginning to think it was only a matter of time.

Kim was focusing on going through the hard drives that had been left behind, hoping that there might be a clue in there somewhere. Payton had programmed then with viruses design to instantly delete the information, but Marshall's expertise was almost inevitably a match for that. They were, however, running into another problem.

"It looks like almost all of the underground sewer access is detailed," Marshall told them. "Potential drop points could be anywhere."

"Can you find the internal clocks with the data I'm sending?" Kim knew what a waste of time it was to ask that question, but she had go through the motions with Marshall sometimes.

"With my eyes closed. I mean, not literally with my eyes closed, that would involve a Braille computer, although funny story, I was designing-."

"You do have a rather unusual syntax here," Langley replied. (Byers was still dealing with the joy of being reunited with Suzanne and concern about the life of his child.) "Anyway, we're transmitting the last pages to you right now."

It actually took them less than ten seconds. "The Marina Del Rey," Kim told them. "It'll do some damage, but it's hardly a high-probability target-"

"Um, Kim," Marshall told her gently. "There were six other hard drives at the hideout. Ringo is doing the piecework, but it's looking a lot like each one is designed to hit a different location in LA. And just to make things even more fun, it's looking like they're trying to do the same thing in New York"

The full horror of this struck Kim. This kind of coordinated assault would have made Arvin Sloane salivate. And even if things ran absolutely perfectly in nailing the locations, at least one or two was going to get through, with the casualty rate... she could do the numbers.

_Just laying the groundwork_

That didn't sound like her. The thought had been in her head, but in did not sound like her voice at all. It sounded... oh the hell with it, alien.

She wanted to shrug it off as tied to exhaustion, but she'd been through days like this working at APO. She knew what that felt like. This was as foreign to her as... as whatever the hell was going on with her body.

"What did that bitch do to me?" she whispered to herself. She thought she had just brushed her hand forward, but it didn't seem like that to the computer, which promptly flew a few feet off the table it was on. It was very hard to pretend that hadn't happened, but the agents on site did their best.

She tried to convince herself that she was still Jack Bauer's daughter, and that she could overcome this. But there was something in her blood now, and it was causing her to act like the Hulk, less the green body paint

_I've got to find her _she thought. _Not just to stop this, but to... _

She didn't dare finish the sentence.

**6:15:22/6:15:23/6:15:24/6:15:25**

Partially because the sky was starting to brighten, Samantha wasn't able to swoop in with the stealth she'd been using all day. Or maybe the risks were so high that she no longer cared about who saw her. The fact was Sydney had seen so much happen today that she couldn't bring herself to care, even when it involved something so universe-changing as life from another planet. It was nothing more than another intricate web of lies that she had to untangle.

She had expected that Mulder would put up more of a fight about leaving her to deal with his sister, considering how much of his life had been invested in that search.

Surprisingly, he had been more than willing to leave Samantha to Syd's mercies. "Maybe you'll finally be able to keep her from disappearing the way that she does," he told her. "Tag her and bag her, or whatever new tech you crazy kids are calling these days." The joke didn't have the force his earlier wit had; he seemed to be on the verge of a total collapse himself.

The minute the van Samantha was in arrived on site, the Secret Service and CTU swarmed the area. There were three black and whites on either of the street, and Syd was surrounded by three other agents. This should have been a conspicuous case of overkill, but she had seen the exit strategy that these people were capable of - had it been possible, she'd have had an F-18 fly overhead.

Samantha, to her credit, didn't try anything stupid. When Syd and her teams approached the vehicle, she obeyed all of their orders, being sure to put her hands over her head, and lying face down on the ground. All this did was make Syd even more suspicious - no one in that family just obeyed orders unless they had a hidden agenda.

A search of the van revealed she had come alone- even more suspect. This had all the earmarks of a Trojan Horse. She ordered that the perimeter that kept up and that she be informed of anything that even hinted at being suspicious. She then pulled Samantha aside. "Us girls need to have a little chat," she ordered.

Samantha didn't speak for several seconds. "Fox betrayed me," she finally said.

"Given everything you and your fellow green men have done to him today, I think he's showing an unusual amount of common sense," Sydney told her.

"Everything I've done, I did for the greater good," Samantha replied. "As someone who was a double agent herself, I'd think you'd understand."

"I've heard far too many overblown rationalizations by people, a lot of whom claimed to care about me," Syd replied. "I've had enough trouble dealing with my own family; I'm not going through anymore bullshit with yours."

Samantha almost smiled. "You think your family drama is bad? Add alien clones and a walking ad for lung cancer, then we can talk."

By now they had reached the same cubby hole where Sydney had been trying to interrogate Mandy. She didn't think this woman would be much easier to crack, but she was willing to try. "Now, in as simple language as you're capable of, what did you need to tell your brother that couldn't be done over the phone?"

She had been expecting more deflection and doubletalk, which is why what she got surprised her. "I know where you can find Brad Follmer."

"So do we," Sydney countered, deciding to run a bluff. "He's going to be at one of the drop sites for one of these water purification plants."

"He's not that stupid, Agent Bristow," Samantha came back. "He knows how dangerous this state's about to become. He's waiting for the delivery, and then he's going to get the hell out in the middle of the mass panic. And believe me, as soon as these people start drinking this water, there will be blood in the streets."

"Then maybe we should let Follmer go and devote all our resources to stopping these deliveries."

"You did that, and you're a bigger fool than I thought you were."

That did it. Sydney had been listening to these doom criers all day, and like a sliver being driven into her ass, she had had enough. Without any warning at all, she delivered a roundhouse kick to Samantha's torso. The young woman practically flew backwards.

"You self-centered bitch!" she yelled as Samantha started to stand. Syd delivered a foot sweep that cut her legs out from under her. Again, she put up no defense. For some reason, this only made her angrier. "Fight back, goddamn it!" she shouted.

Samantha took two more kicks before Sydney had to breathe. "Feel better now?" she said calmly. "Beat me to a pulp if you think it serves your purpose. It changes nothing. You want to get Follmer, I can tell you where he'll be."

Somehow, it had felt better having one of the giant hulks throw her around the room. Arvin Sloane had seemed like more of a human being. "Start talking."

"Follmer is counting on the fact that every agency is going to be trying to stop this disaster. They had to reopen the airspace when Prescott touches down. He's going to be trying to get out then. There's a private airfield upstate in Nyack. He'll be getting out some time in the next thirty minutes."

Sydney gave a small smile. "He's not the only one who can make this a no-fly zone."

**6:23:16/6:23:17/6:23:18**

Jack had the data of the drop points uploaded to one of the monitors in the hummer. The nearest one was on 134th Street, just few blocks shy of the East River. Scully had argued that they seemed to be resetting their priorities every five minutes, which was only a slight exaggeration.

"You've seen what these hybrids can do." It wasn't a question. "Are they as bad as the aliens we've already dealt with?"

"No, they're worse," Scully admitted. "Shooting them will barely slow them down."

"Then I'd say this is the greater priority," Jack replied. "Last thing we need is an army of these things."

So they had diverted their course. Now they were a block away from the sewage treatment center in question. There was now enough light in the sky so that they to could see no immediate presence. But that didn't mean they hadn't found another place to hide.

"Unfortunately, we're spread pretty thin," Jack told her as they got out. "It's just going to be you and me handling this."

Scully would've argued that she had never been anywhere near qualified to do this kind of operation even when she was at the bureau. But she had come to realize that Jack was a lot like Mulder in one important way - if he set his mind to do something, he'd do it. The important difference: Jack knew what he was doing. So she simply pulled out the mini-Glock from under the dashboard, and began to follow Jack.

"What's the thermal scan show?" Jack demanded of Edgar.

Even though the doughy tech should have been overwhelmed by all the juggling, he needed scarcely ten seconds to give Jack the relevant information. "I'm picking up five warm bodies in the building. No way to tell if that's all of them."

"Their ranks aren't bottomless, and we've been cutting into them all day," Jack countered..

Scully didn't bother to point out that they didn't have to be limitless; they could be not of this earth, because Jack had already demonstrated that he was better at handling them than Mulder ever had.. "How do you want to play this?" she asked instead.

"The greater priority is to contain this compound. I'm going to recon; see if I can find out if they've dosed the water. While I'm there, I'm going to place some charges where the water comes in; you're going to put some where it goes out. Wait three minutes, then detonate."

This was a flawed plan, but they probably wouldn't be able to come up with a better one. "Then I guess you'd better hurry," she said, as she took her half from Jack.

Jack actually managed a small grin. "I've got all the time I need."

Edgar had only gotten one thing wrong in his scan. Only four of the men in the building were Henderson's; the other was the chief engineer for the facility. They had killed his two assistant and the lone security guard coming into the building, then told him they would do the same to him, if he didn't obey their instructions to the letter. The frightened man was complying; albeit as slowly as possible.

He had already fed a bizarre setup of test tubes into the induction pipes, and was slowly beginning the process of delivering it, when the first shot rang out, and the man to his immediate left went down.

Two of the gunmen whirled around looking for the shooter, while the third grabbed the engineer, and placed the gun at his temple. "No more fucking around!" he mumbled, as he pulled the man aside.

This wasn't as subtle as Jack could've been, but he had witnessed what was being done, and now realized he had another life to factor into the equation. Fortunately, he had chosen adequate camouflage and had a silencer, so that would buy him seconds that he had no intention of wasting.

He moved in stealthily, ducking behind the intricate pipe system. The death of their comrade had shaken the remaining mercenaries enough so that they could split up, which only made it easier for Jack to pick them off.

He waited another five seconds before taking out the man furthest away.. One left, and that was the one he was going to question later. Right now, he had a more important priority.

With a gun at your temple, it makes even the most rote tasks next to impossible, as the engineer was finding out as he messed up pushing the buttons for the second time. He knew that the enemy's numbers were fading, but that might not come close enough to save him.

"One more step and I blow his fucking head off!" his captor shouted.

Jack knew that he meant it, and also that the stakes were too high. He moved in, and the engineer took advantage of his opponents momentary hesitation to sock his elbow into his shooter's stomach. An instant before he could fire, Jack managed a head shot. Unfortunately, it wasn't as clean as he usually did, and as he fell, the dead man hit the activation switch.

Jack practically flew the last twenty feet. "Can you stop this?" he ordered. When the engineer managed a 'no', he went to the only viable option

Scully had just placed the last charge when she saw the stranger running out. A split second later, Jack's voice screamed: "Detonate!" in the receiver.

Scully knew who was the priority, began to run and pressed the button on her control. She had just long enough to think that her explosives expertise might have been overrated when the pipes started exploding. She barely had enough time to note her success when she saw her mercenary nearly fly by her. Almost on automatic, she pulled her weapon and she shot him in the thigh.

When Jack arrived five seconds later and saw her standing over her prisoner, all she said was: "Like riding a damn bicycle."

**6:32:28/6:32:29/6:32:30/6:32:31**

**Upper West Side**

Mandy's tongue had not gotten any looser by the time Mulder and Vaughn had reached the water treatment plant just short of the Hudson. This didn't surprise Mulder much- he knew that there were devils on every side and none of them would look to kindly on a prisoner. He had almost begun to think of her as baggage, something that they were holding on to for the moment, but that everybody considered superfluous. It was just a question of which side would end up killing her.

Vaughn got off the phone. "They've managed to secure two of the secondary targets and one of the primary ones. So far, no sign of either mastermind."

"'Of course not," Mulder replied. "Say what you will of either of these bastards; neither is stupid."

Vaughn seemed to be on the verge of saying something else, but decided against it. Instead, he chose to focus on their current strike point, demonstrating on the monitor where they thought the drop was going to take place. The big problem was that this treatment plant was mostly underground, so getting any thermal or satellite reads was going to be a lot more difficult.

"Where do we get in?" Mulder asked.

"We're not. She is."

This finally managed to get a reaction where torture and bribes had failed. The assassin, who hadn't said three words since Mulder had come into her company, spoke up. "You're crazier than I thought," she told them. "You think these bastards are just going to welcome me with open arms and take me to Henderson?"

"Why shouldn't they?" Vaughn asked. "From the moment you went into custody, we put up a Chinese wall. No one on the outside knows you were ever taken prisoner. So my guess is the rank-and-file will just think that you took awhile finishing your latest job." He flashed her a grin. "Which you'll have to admit was a _bitch _to finish."

Mulder decided to ignore the fact that Mandy was pretty badly bruised and scarred from the last hour, and decided to jump to the more relevant point. "You know as well as I do that in half of these operations the left hand never knows what the right is doing. What makes you so sure these people will even be able to lead us higher up the food chain?"

"These people always have some kind of backtrace even if it's just a hint," Vaughn replied grimly. "And I have a feeling they'll be far more receptive to one of their own in getting it."

Mandy had managed to recover a little bit of her cool. "You're not going to be able to come in with me," she reminded Vaughn. "Why should I even be willing to listen to you?"

"Because I'm throwing in a sweetener," Vaughn replied as he reached into the kit near his seat. "I'm not just going to wire you for sound." He removed a very small kit. "I'm going to rig you with this."

Mulder didn't recognize it; Mandy clearly did, and it got her pulse to accelerate in a big way.

"You say anything stupid, or do anything I consider suspicious, I press a button, and you go boom. And it will be a very messy blast." Now Vaughn had an even nastier look on his face "Perhaps Milady would like to reconsider cooperating with us?"

Mulder was beginning to wonder if this kind of manic streak extended to everybody who was just related to Jack by marriage. Still there was an argument to this extreme, because Mandy finally looked like she was willing to sing.

The thing was, Mulder wasn't sure if Vaughn was willing to listen.

**6:38:04/6:38:05/6:38:06**

**Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey**

None of her fellow agents were quite sure what was going on with Kim, but nobody, even among those who had seniority on her, was prepared to tell her to sit down. Part of it was do to severe thinness of manpower, and Michelle wasn't going to pull rank, mainly because of what she had seen George Mason go through during the nuclear threat three years ago. This case seemed far less extreme- right now. And right now, they needed every body they could get their hands on

The Marina was the highest priority location they had to hit, but considering that it was fed by the Pacific made it a higher priority. Marshall had worked some particular magic and narrowed down the location to within a two-mile radius, but that still left them with a lot of ground to cover. Only the relative earliness of the hour was working in their favor right now.

Kim had just finished the surveillance of her grid, and had come up with nada. The three other people on her team were drawing blanks as well. "Please tell me you have something on the satellites," she demanded.

"I'm still coming up with zero," Marshall replied worriedly. "The only other possibility is that they're still in the underground, but there's no sewer entrance within five miles of the drop point. And even if they are, the infrared can only see so deep."

"You're telling me that there isn't even a manhole within walking distance?" Considering where they were, this seemed hard to believe for Kim.

"You want to go spelunking, be my guest," Langley piped in. "Problem is, you decide to go underground, you'd almost certainly be cut off from us. I've been watching your tech guys for twenty years, you still haven't been able to get power through six inches of cement."

Kim tried to think this through as logically as she could. Payton's people had to be operating on an independent team, so there was a very good chance that they'd be cut off from the outside as well. The problem was they had no idea how many people would be sent out on a mission like this. Still at this point, they had to try something, or something unspeakable might happen to the people of LA.

"Pin down the nearest underground entrance, and tell all agents within the search grid to assemble near it. We're going in after the bastards."

"You sure that's the right play?" Marshall asked.

"They have to bring this to the water somehow," Kim argued. "This may be the only play possible."

Unfortunately, John Byers was listening to this conversation as well. And he was unaware that he was being monitored by the mole that James Prescott had arranged to be in LA CTU. Or that Payton was using a hybrid of technology he had harvested from the Lone Gunmen technology to send a team to intercept Kim and her people.

And that this team had very specific orders in regards to Kim - to make sure she was killed as publicly as possible.

They just didn't know why.

**6:44:19/6:44:20/6:44:21/6:44:22**

**Upper West Side**

Vaughn was way too good at wiring Mandy to explode, but Mulder had refrained from asking where he'd done this before.

"This thing has a range of more than a mile and a half," he had instructed the now understandably unnerved assassin. "Try anything funny- and I have a broad definition of that word- we'll be picking you up with tweezers."

Mulder hoped he never learned how much effort it took to maintain that stoic facade, but he waited until Mandy had finally gone inside the treatment plant before speaking up. "You do realize how easily this could go horribly wrong?" he asked.

"This woman was responsible for the deaths of at least eleven law enforcement officials," Vaughn reminded him. "I don't think anyone will cry if she spontaneously combusts. Besides, this is far more likely to work than trying to run them down ourselves."

He turned on the miniature camera that he had also wired her with, and slowly they got the view of the interior. It didn't take them long to see that there was already a dead security guard inside. Mandy kept walking, and soon they saw that there were three men trying to load some kind of test tubes inside one of the outlying pipes.

"Hold it right there!" The man to the extreme left pulled his Glock.

"You are the crack team that Henderson sent for this job? I am deeply embarrassed." Mandy replied in a way too level tone for Mulder's taste. "You don't recognize one of your associates?"

Mulder was pretty sure that they were going to shoot this woman anyway, but a split second later, the man working the contraption eased up a little. "You're Henderson's woman? The one who used to work for Ira Gaines."

"I know my resume. I don't need to hear it parroted back by buffoons."

"Watch your mouth, asswipe-"

"Cool it. Henderson sent me for a reason. Somehow the government got a hold of the Purity Control files. They know the other locations for the water drops."

Mulder knew something was wrong. "Vaughn?"

Michael waved him off, still listening.

"How'd he find out?"

"How do you think?" Mandy was actually starting to sound impatient. "You really want me to start quoting chapter and verse. Finish the drop now, before every agent in New York comes breaking down the door."

"That's it. She sold us out."

What happened next was not quite clear even for Mulder. She ran straight into the man immediately in front of her, and kicked him in the stomach. Vaughn pressed the detonator switch, but there was no explosion.

_The sad part is, this isn't even the dumbest thing I've done today _Mulder thought to himself as he drew his weapon and ran towards the entrance. Vaughn yelled but didn't try to stop him. He wonder if the tired agent believed it would be better if Mulder went up in flames with the killers.

All the time he ran, he kept waiting for an explosion. He didn't understand what the fuck was going on until he made inside the water treatment plant and saw two mercs on the ground, and the third in the corner holding his head.

"You are such an idiot!" Mandy yelled. "They were going to call Henderson. I had them set up to make a call that you could backtrace!

Mulder found this about as believable as- actually, compared to the bullshit he'd been hearing all night, this was just about plausible. "Did they finish dropping the test tubes?" he demanded.

"You were the ones who pinned a goddamned camera to me," she argued. "Or do you want to drink it and find out if I'm lying?"

"Not particularly," Mulder looked at Vaughn. "Are you sure wired that thing up right?"

"The electrical charge must not have connected through the cement," Vaughn said. "I'm sure now-"

"Oh, for Christ's sake; what do you want from me?" Mandy shouted, frantic at last.

"Get us, Henderson, and we'll talk" Mulder turned to the third assassin. "And remember. this is what we do with people we _like."_

**6:51:39/6:51:40/6:51:41**

**DeWitt Clinton Airfield, Nyack**

It turned out it was very difficult to freeze a no-fly zone when you're trying to keep the part of the government which might be trustworthy from the part that definitely isn't trustworthy. Wisely Sydney had decided to keep on the move while all of this was going on. Nadia had gotten a high-speed helicopter to rendezvous with her and Samantha roughly three blocks away from Mount Sinai, with Agent Doggett on board to serve as backup.. Just to make sure that Follmer didn't see them coming, they had deplaned about three miles away from the airfield, and meet up with three fellow agents, all of whom Edgar had verified their bona fides before they met up.

During their travels, CTU had managed to intercept and neutralize four of the teams that had been trying to infect the water supply. Two of them were still under surveillance, but they had to take into consideration that a higher-up had gotten the information to the other team leader, and that they had moved to a fallback position. Which left them with one rather gaping problem. One secondary target remained, and it was within a five mile radius of the airfield. There was a very high degree of likelihood that Follmer might have been responsible for either leading the team or instructing it on where to go.

All of which made finding the rogue bureau director even more urgent.

"Have we managed to shut down the air traffic tower?" Doggett demanded.

"We do that; Follmer knows that we're on to him, and goes even deeper underground than he has been the last couple of hours," Sydney reminded him.

"We hold off too long, and Follmer could just fly away like he has planned," Doggett was starting to get a frantic note in his tone.

"He can't do that," Sydney countered. "Not without drawing some kind of attention. The guy's pinned between a rock and a hard place. We'll be able to nail him."

"Not unless he's found a way to kill two birds- or maybe two million- with a single stone."

Sydney hadn't thought it would be possible to get anymore annoyed with Mulder's sister, who had been remarkably unhelpful during the last twenty minutes, all of her statements that she wanted to catch the people responsible to the contrary. "Is there something that we've missed, oh mystic one?" she demanded, not expecting any answers.

"Passenger and prop flights aren't the only ones that operate out of this airfield," Samantha replied. "There's one vital one you're missing."

Syd was prepared to write this off as more white noise. But Agent Doggett, the New York native, had just realized something. "There's a lot of farmland up here," he realized. "Which means that there have been some crop sprayers available. And they might not have to answer to SAC."

Trying to deliver the solution in this method would be a very piecemeal fashion of doing so, but Sydney realized that was probably not Follmer's highest priority right now. She got on the radio, and contacted air traffic to issue a freeze on any crop-dusters attempting to leave.

"I gotta tell you; I'm not wild about making this kind of delivery," the copilot told the navigator.

"We're getting triple what we normally get for these kinds of trips," the pilot reminded them. "For that kind of dough, I'd carry Agent Orange."

Just then, the man who was offering to pay for the trip walked into the cockpit. "Change of plans. We're going up now."

The pilot looked a little nervous. "We haven't finished the pre-flight check. You know how much trouble we could get into if we just-"

He didn't finish the sentence because the man pulled his gun, and shot out the radio.

"We're not in," Brad Follmer replied. "We're going up, or the next shot goes in your knee."

Los Angeles Sewers

Kim had just about been to give up the underground search as a wasted effort when suddenly she heard something suspicious- like a bomb about to be detonated

"Hit the deck!" she ordered her team. She did so, but their reflexes weren't nearly as good as hers- at least, that was the explanation she gave later.

The bomb was still more than a hundred yards away when it went off. Two of the team members were killed instantly. Another was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the throat and bled out in a matter of seconds. Kim was a lot closer to the center, and was scorched in several places, but there was no clear sign of injury, even though she was closer to the blast radius.

The two members of the team who had been dispatched to do this watched with no more than a mild sense of ennui. "Why did she want us to stay around for this?" one asked the other.

The other one shrugged. "Make sure that the other people down here have done their job, and let's get the fuck out-"

He never finished the sentence because Kim opened her eyes, reached out her hand, and grabbed his arm so hard, she nearly dislocated it from the socket. "Where the fuck is Kelly Payton?"" she all but screamed.

Both men were so shocked that neither bothered to answer. "Don't fuck with me!" Kim demanded.

"We don't know where she is!" the one who'd been grabbed managed to gasp out.

"What did she do to me?"

"You already know!" the second one managed to say. "She's made you a carrier!"

"Of what?"

"Of nothing ever seen on this earth!" one replied. "And in a matter of hours, you won't be in a position to care anymore. You'll be rendered completely subservient to the pathogen!"

Kim only heard three words- matter of hours. That meant it wasn't irreversible, at least not yet. She prepared to yank the man she was holding further done-

- and all but pulled his arm off. The shock that was holding the second assassin passive started running like his ass was on fire.

Kim just froze for a few seconds before starting to run. Praying in the part of her that still believed in such things that it wasn't already too late.

**6:59:57/6:59:58/6:59:59/7:00:00**


	24. 7:00 AM TO 8:00 AM

**I've been nice to this point, but I'll be blunt. Unless I get at least five reviews, the last cchapter will never see the light of day. Review or else.**

**CHAPTER 23**

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 7:00 A.M. AND 8:00 A.M.**

**134th Street**

It had taken Jack and Scully nearly half an hour to be absolutely certain that the solvent had not leaked into the pipeline. They had also been gratified that the other locations had been secured, but were getting more worked up that Henderson and Follmer were still nowhere to be found.

Then Mulder had called, sounding more worked up than she'd thought he could get, and when he explained what exactly Vaughn had done to the assassin in order to get her to talk, Scully wasn't sure that she could blame him. Maybe in every war both sides ended up with a lot of blood on their hands, but being on this particular side, they were all but bathing in it. She knew the price if they lost, but still...

"Please tell me that you at least got some kind of lead on Henderson," she asked slowly. "Tell me that the son of a bitch is at least still in the country."

"Oh, he's still in the country," Vaughn told them bitterly. "The son of a bitch has been double-teaming us."

"Now what?" Scully demanded.

"The attacks on the water supply are a distraction for CTU, but not because Henderson wants to escape. The conspiracy's invested too much in this bastard to give up on him now. He's going to be leading the final charge at the UN himself."

Now Scully was confused. The UN attack seemed to be fully on Prescott's work, not anything Henderson had planned. Was there some kind of triple-cross they were unaware of?

Then Jack got on the line, and he had even more bad news, though it took him a few moments to explain why it was so bad.

"President Palmer has regained consciousness," he told them. "and his symptoms have been greatly reduced. Doctors think that he'll be completely recovered."

"How doesn't that help us?" Mulder demanded.

"Because Prescott prepared for this eventuality."

Jack then explained that Prescott had already gone to certain people within the Congressional leadership, and argued that David Palmer's actions over the last day had been highly questionable over "bizarre and dubious intelligence" (he had stopped short of mentioning the words 'extra-terrestrial' as part of it, of course) and that his mental acuities were clearly unfit too maintain the office of the Presidency. The legislative body (no doubt softened by all of the ground work that Senator Logan had done) was more than willing to be sympathetic to Prescott, and was making noise that the Cabinet would have to clear the President's mental fitness before they agreed to work with him. It was a load of bullshit and stalling, but it was going to be enough to keep David Palmer away from the White House for the immediate future - more than long enough to allow Prescott to make his meeting at the UN in an hour.

"Technically speaking, we're not even supposed to still be on the grid," Jack finished up. "Division is calling us in as soon as we locate the last of the drop points."

"You haven't been listening to the powers-that-be all day," Scully reminded him. "I'm a little surprised that you're starting now."

Jack hesitated deliberately. "You're better off not knowing what's going to happen next," he finally said. "Things could get hairy even for this line of work."

"Yesterday, Scully and I had shoot to kill orders on our heads. We're inclined to give you a little more rope before you hang yourself." Mulder replied.

Scully was a little shocked Mulder was giving Jack so much latitude. Then again, he'd always liked flying a little too close to the sun. "What's the next step?" she asked anyway.

"Where does Follmer fit in?" Jack asked.

"They're going to remove him for the picture. Scapegoat for everything that's gone wrong. That's the real reason he's on the final drop; he knows what's coming." Vaughn paused. "Hopefully, that will make him amenable to suggestion."

By now, Scully knew these people well enough to know that was a euphemism for "Maybe we'll only have to break one bone."

**7:04:39/7:04:40/7:04:41**

**Dewitt Clinton Airfield**

It became clear very quickly where Follmer was when they knew exactly where to look; there was only one such plane still on the ground qualified to make a dusting run. Furthermore, it was preparing to take off despite the fact that air traffic has just grounded all planes going out of the field.

Syd knew that there was a hell of a risk if they barreled down the landing strip, but they didn't have much of a choice: once Follmer got airborne, they'd have almost no way to track him. So she reminded everybody to buckle up, and floored the gas.

Doggett had begun to wish that he had stayed behind and waited for the helicopter; Sydney was going at least fifty, and the obstacles that were going to be in their way were much harder to dodge than the ones on your typical expressway. He liked NASCAR, but was pretty sure he didn't want this particular version. It would be ironic to have survive all of the explosions, infections, and bombings, only to die in a high speed chase here.

"How exactly do you plan to stop him if he beats you into the air?" he demanded. "Does this vehicle come with warp drive capabilities?"

Sydney didn't take her eyes off the road, but there was definitely a hesitation before she spoke. "We're going to have to try and shoot out the gas tank."

Doggett considered this for all of two seconds. "I loved _Die Hard 2_ as much as the next fellow, but even that involved a bigger plane and better accuracy with a weapon than I've got. And I'd probably have to shoot _over your head."_"

"There may be another way," Syd got quieter all of a sudden. "I hope."

Doggett saw what she was looking at. A Cessna of some kind- Doggett didn't think it would matter what model- was starting to taxi down the runway roughly a hundred yards ahead of them. "Keep an eye directly ahead of us. Let me know if there any obstacles immediately within our line of sight."

Before he could question what the plan was, she began pushing the hummer to sixty and above.

John didn't know a lot about aviation, but he knew that any plane must accelerate its speed at a constant rate before lift off.. If the pilot goes too fast, he runs the risk of crashing the bird before it even can spread its wings. What he didn't know was that right now, Brad Follmer was all but holding a gun to the pilot's head, pushing him to go at least five miles above groundspeed regulations with little, if any, regard for what was immediately in front of them. In other words,. they were both playing chicken at the most extreme level.

Doggett risked a look at Samantha, who hadn't said a word since telling them about Follmer's last ditch escape attempt. "Please tell me that you at least have an idea of how to stop him," he replied. "Tell me that your people did more than just give you a fucking hint."

Samantha still said nothing

"How long until we can take off?" Follmer demanded.

"Thirty seconds," the pilot said as he checked the gauges.

Then he winced. It felt like he'd just been stung by a bee.

Had he known the role that bees had played in the lives of Mulder and Scully, he might have been more alarmed by this

The car had to be going seventy at least, but the wheels were starting to leave the ground. Follmer was going to get away.

And then there was a huge bang. Follmer's jaw almost dropped because the pilot had just fallen over the steering wheel screaming.

The plane was skidding on the runway now. Sydney very gently lifted her foot off the accelerator- if she'd hit the brakes, she'd most likely have done her own spiral of death. As it was, the Hummer just missed colliding with a smaller prop job at the end of the runway.

Follmer's plane was fortunate because there was nothing for it to crash into on this side. However, it just kept skidding and skidding, until it fell off the end of the runway, where it finally overturned.

Brad Follmer was the only man to manage to crawl out of the wreck. There were scars on his face, but he was still ticking. Then suddenly there were two wingtips in front of him. Follmer looked up, and there was John Doggett, looking like death warmed over. "I- I surrender," he managed to get out through a long filling with blood.

"I don't believe you," Doggett put a bullet between his eyes. "That was for Monica, you sonofabitch."

With that Doggett very slowly walked away. He barely noticed when the Cessna exploded ten seconds later.

**7:11:20/7:11:21/7:11:22/7:11:23**

**Los Angeles**

Kim knew that the smart thing to do would be to call Michelle, confirm what half of CTU probably expected about her condition, and get herself looked at. God knew that she probably wasn't go to be an asset to anybody if what was happening to her continued to escalate.

But she was a Bauer, and leaving a job half-finished wasn't the kind of thing she could do easily with bad guys still out on the map and innocent lives hanging in the balance. Besides, if Kelly Payton had done this to her, she might have an idea on how to reverse or at least slow the process.

That's what she told herself, anyway. The fact that there was a big part of her who just wanted to separate Payton's head from her body was an incidental. (At this point, she didn't know whether this was the virus or her own rage, and frankly, she didn't want to consider it too much.)

The one good thing was that she had managed to stop the device that had been about to deliver the same virus into the drinking water. And they'd even manage to keep one member of the team alive to pump for information. Kim had reluctantly decided to sit the interrogation out, and work on getting whatever reliable information they had off the bastard's cell phone. Which was when Marshall had approached her with yet another problem.

"You sure that there's been a security breach?"

"I know that you don't like thinking that the people you work with our untrustworthy. Unless of course, they were like Sloane. Or Vaughn's first wife. Or someone at Division, cause let's face is, most of those people look like they were born with sticks of their-"

Hearing a Marshall ramble was good for the soul; Kim smiled a little. "Do you have a suspect?" she asked instead

"I haven't been doing this for a while, Kim, and CTU was never my place of operations; I've never even met half the people here." Marshall hesitated. "I haven't even gone to Director Dessler yet; I'm not even comfortable raising this until I have a better idea as to who this son of a bitch is."

"How about a way to flush this guy out?"

"That I'm willing to do. I just need for you come up with something we can use as a lead."

Kim saw Agent Castle walking up. "Stay on the line. I may have some bait any minute now." She looked at them. "Good news only; I've taken way too much shit today."

Castle told her that their would-be bomber didn't have an exact location on Peyton, but she had come up with a list of three possibles. Considering that one of them had been the abandoned factory where they had taken Kim, that improved their chances to fifty-fifty.

"I think I know a way to make this work for us," Kim got on the line with Marshall. " Announce that we're going to focus all our energy on a target in Redondo Beach. Then go to Michelle- and only Michelle- and tell her that were actually running a variation on the situation we had in Long Beach in April. She'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Tell her that we'll be on the road in two minutes, and to limit the exact plans to people with a Level 4 clearance."

"What about the other, um, tech support we have?" Marshall could miss certain subtleties, and more often put ones that they didn't need to be.

"They knew how to hack into our hardware; they can follow this particular maneuver just fine," Kim pointed out. "I'll be waiting to hear from Michelle."

Castle asked which site they'd be searching. Kim was honestly tempted to just toss a coin, but decided it would be simpler to go to one near Hawthorne. "It's close to an airport. Peyton may be trying to cut her losses and get while the getting's good."

"You do know the odds are this is nothing but another blind alley?"

Kim had considered this. "We're going to get something. Call it women's intuition."

At least, she _hoped_ it was her gut, and not something that was about to do the scene of _Alien _to it.

**7:17:11/7:17:12/7:17:13**

**CTU New York**

Despite the tremendous effort that they had gone through to get Brad Follmer, Jack was reluctant to make any kind of deal with him. With the explosion of the plane, they'd managed to nullify all of the packages of the virus that were out there on the East Coast. And if Mandy really was telling the truth (and he didn't trust that assassin much further than he could comfortably throw her), Follmer was about to be hung out to dry by Henderson and Prescott, so he'd probably be willing to say just about anything. So he decided (and was pretty astonished that he was thinking this way) that they would go to their fallback position. However, before doing that, he was goddamn going to make sure his family approved of it.

"You do know that what you're asking goes against all laws of God and man?" Vaughn replied very slowly, when he heard him. "I'll admit you haven't known him as long as us-"

"I've got a good idea as to what his character is, and I'm not asking you to buy a timeshare with the guy." Jack reminded him.

"Trust Sark. I'm sorry, Jack, but those two words just don't go together."

Jack then remembered that given the number that Sark had probably done on Vaughn's head during his unfortunate first marriage, he was probably going to be the least amenable to this discussion. He therefore went to Syd, who had even less reason to trust him, but who might have a certain clarity about this that her husband was lacking.

"Believe me, Michael, I don't want to give Sark anything remotely resembling a free pass, either." She paused. "But the fact remains, he saved my life a few hours ago. Which makes this the fourth time since we've known him that he's done what he'd promised. He may be a cockroach, but for the last couple of days- and that's pretty long, in Sark-time- he's been a cockroach of his word. "

Jack was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to play the whole 'better the devil we know' card when Nadia, who had been very quiet throughout this conference call, finally spoke up.

"He's gotta know there's nothing we can offer him. You really want to try and appeal to the goodness of that coal-shell he calls a heart? Throw out that old hoary chestnut "do the right thing?'" Nadia shook her head. "Is your master plan to cause him to die laughing?"

This was going to be an obstacle, and even after Jack explained what he wanted to try, all three of them were extremely doubtful that Sark would waste a moment thinking over it. At this point, they preferred a Presidential assassin's word to his. They might have carried the day if it wasn't for the fact they were almost at the eleventh hour. Jack then reminded them that, if nothing else, Sark was a protector of his self-interest.

To say that his family's acquiescence was reluctant was the understatement of the century, with Sydney openly saying: "This is going to come back to bite us, but we have no choice in the matter." Jack shut up, because that's what he thought too.

Nadia walked into the holding cell where they'd been keeping Sark out of sight for the last few hours, and waved off the guards. They'd hear about this eventually, but right now, she wanted to have as few ears hearing this as possible.

Before she could even sit down, though Sark looked right up. "I accept."

It was rare that Nadia was thrown, but this did unsettle her a little. "Don't you even want to hear the terms?"

"You forget, I had a very clear look at what these people are up too. This isn't the Rimbaldi scenario all over again, but it's close enough, as you put it, for government work. And I am very familiar how that ended." Sark paused. "I may be a gutless turncoat, but I'm not a fool. And your husband and your sister have a remarkable ability to pull the fat from the fire at the last minute. "

"If we're so good, why would we need you?" Nadia riposted.

"Because even Superman needed help occasionally."

Nadia was tempted to respond that even if that were the case, Superman wouldn't turn to Lex Luthor to fight off Darkseid (She'd spent a little too much time around Marshall to know this much about comic books.) But she didn't have time to waste on trivia. "We're not giving you the keys to the kingdom."

"I wouldn't want them if you had them. The last few jobs I've made more than enough money to live very comfortably. All I want is for you to leave me alive, and I will gladly retire. This espionage business is getting far too hazardous for my health." Sark paused. "Yours too."

Nadia would have assented, but that would have meant agreeing with Sark, something she was prepared to withstand torture rather than allow happen. "So how do we stop Henderson?"

"There is a way, but you're not going to like it." Sark hesitated. "_You_ don't."

**7:24:26/7:24:27/7:24:28/7:24:29/**

**Hawthorne, Los Angeles**

"Given her response to the dosage, it's pretty clear that the pathogen's working," Kelly Payton was telling Henderson over the audio-link.

A blind man could tell that Payton's nerves were beginning to fray "I don't need what amounts to third-hand information; I need to know that the infection will work as advertised when I need it to," Henderson insisted. " Or do I have to use that dull cliche that the fate of the world rests on this? Follow orders, or... well, I don't even have to finish that sentence?"

Payton would have protested, but suddenly the motion detectors that surrounded her hideout began to blare. She terminated the communication, and grabbed for her weapon.

Kim didn't know whether or not the corridor of mercs that came out to meet her were an indication of Payton's presence or not; her focus was set on killing them. She had used a CTU backchannel to make sure that they had added support., only to learn that their numbers had been spread too thin by trying to gather all the drop points for the virus. The team she had with here was going to have to be enough.

All of this flashed through her mind in a split second as she pulled her weapon, and fired on the first man to come into her sightline. She wasn't as qualified a marksman as her father was, but she'd been doing fine so far. So it came as something as a shock when she saw that her bullet had only winged her target..

A few seconds later, another CTU shooter had brought him down, and the adrenaline kicked in. But even as she entered the quasi-automatic place that all trained agents go into when they're in a firefight, she was aware of certain things. Her reflexes which had, if anything been on a higher pitch, when she'd been in the sewers, seemed to be moving as lot more sluggishly. She thought that at least three shots that should have directed hits had either just winged the target or missed entirely. Because everyone was so entrenched in their positions, no one seemed to notice-

And then all rational thought went out off her head complete as an oral overload spilled into her head, and nothing else was possible. Before she could even realize that her Glock was falling out of her hand.

_Well, it seems like I got your attention._

Even though her brain felt like it was going to explode at any moment, she still recognized the voice of Kelly Payton.. "What... what the fuck did you do to me?" she managed to gasp out.

_Let's just say I've been working on a little biology project, and you are the unfortunate lab rat that didn't get the placebo. _Kim was barely in her head any more, but she could tell that Payton sounded a little nervous under all her bravado. Before she could even begin to deal with that, the discharge started again. _Are you going to play nice or do I have to make blood pour from you ears?_

Kim Bauer didn't respond well to bullies, especially the ones that she couldn't see. She was about to say as much when she realized that, completely independent of her own wishes, her feet were moving. Considering that the firefight was still going on, this could only end badly.

_I didn't say that you were going anywhere, _the voice replied. _What you're going to do is pick up your weapon, target the nearest cop, and start shooting._

"And how would you have be do that when I'm seeing triple?" she whispered..

_"You're a Bauer; you're honestly telling me that your father didn't train you to shoot the tick of a dog's tail at a hundred yards._

Kim was now pretty sure that, for all Payton's arrogance, she wasn't sure that this was actually going to work. There had to be a way to work this, even with her head feeling like the interior of Big Ben.

"I will find a way to stop you," she whispered.

Payton's response was to send another sonic burst loud enough to force Kim to her knees.

**7:29:43/7:29:44/7:29:45**

**Just Outside of Long Island Sound**

Even though it had momentarily upset him, Jack hadn't really been that disturbed by Doggett's execution of Follmer. Considering his own issues when it came to people who had hurt his family, he couldn't exactly throw stones at someone who had done the exact same thing. Besides, with Sark willing to aid them, Follmer was going to be superfluous anyway.

The biggest thing that upset him was that he and Syd were in the other part of the state and even moving at top speed, they were still fifteen minutes out. He didn't want to start preparations for what would amount to the final assault until they were all assembled, but now he realized he'd have to do some juggling anyway, especially given what Sark had told them.

He could talk a good game about trusting his enemy, but there was still all the evidence arguing against what he was saying. And when Sark had told Nadia what they needed to do to stop this assault, he momentarily wondered if he was backing the right horse.

"Henderson's almost certainly gone dark by now," Sark pointed out. "And considering that he has the full force of the White House currently covering his ass, he can afford to. Right now, there's only one thing that would cause him to resurface. Me. And I know of only one way to reach him."

Jack had known that some element of trust was necessary for this to work, but the idea of giving Sark communications had nettled both his wife and his in-laws. Even after he had been willing to do with Nadia right next to him, what might be qualified as a Sark gag-reflex still had them nervous.

As a sign of good faith, he agreed to tell them to easiest way to make contact. There was a homing signal that could be activated less than a mile away from the U.N. that could be used. Sark gave them an exact location, but had informed him that only he could trigger it- it was key-coded to respond only to his fingerprints and voice. When Jack had told them to retrieve the signal, Sark had frantically argued that only he could do it. "They'll have someone monitoring the position in case you managed to retrieve it," he told them. "You fuck around with it, they'll kill you without blinking. And your getting killed would automatically sign my own death warrant."

This time Nadia had thought that they were being fed a pile, but was willing to give Sark the barest margins of error for this little game. She had been willing to drive Sark, but had reminded him: "You screw with us-"

"Heads, you might kill me; tails, they _will _kill me. Agent Santos, I'm well aware of what had happens if I screw over a Bristow." Sark was probably being honest, even though his lips were moving. "You'll understand the need for none of those brilliant electronic devices your tech labs keep developing?"

"We will be monitoring you to the best of our ability," Jack told him.

"Believe me, I trust your determination far more than I do Henderson's."

Sark got out a quarter of a mile away from the drop site, and began to work.

Jack was just beginning to wonder if Sark's little explanation had just been one more desperate bluff when he saw the vehicle on the horizon. He didn't have to tell anybody to take up their positions; in essence, they'd been waiting all day for this very move.

Sark didn't need any encouragement either. He simply walked over to the location he had ferreted out two minutes earlier, and waited.

Nobody had to wait very long. The car came to a stop before it had gotten anywhere near the location. Three men got out of it, none of them familiar.

Sark had been handed a weapon, but no ammunition - there was trust and there was being an idiot- so no one was that surprised when Sark got a pretty thorough frisking. "Why shouldn't we kill you right here?"

Sark actually had the nerve to lift an eyebrow and stare in Jack's direction. "I know your armaments and who's backing you. I know which side to bet on," he told them. "I also know the time issue. So I need you to get me in touch with Henderson _now."_

"That same time issue guarantees we can't raise him."

"Find a way, or this will all go to hell. You may think we've got this locked down, but I know these people. 'It ain't over til it's over' was coined just to deal with them." Sark was starting to sound a little frantic.

This seemed to convince them, or else they were just sadists. A few moments later, they dragged Sark into the car

It drove off, Jack and Scully following from a distance.

**7:38:34/7:38:35/7:38:36/7:38:37**

**Los Angeles**

Kim had spent the last few minutes getting into a secure position, and trying to cast her weapon aside. But it wasn't just her head that was being disloyal; her whole body was betraying her. Every time she tried to do something with her weapon, there would appear to be an intense war between spirit and flesh, and it seemed like her flesh was winning.

Over the last minute or so, however, the gunfire had been abating. Even with Kim's 'assistance', CTU's superior numbers seemed to be prevailing. Kelly Payton had to have known that this was likely, and if she was smart, she'd have been making tracks. Of course, Payton had been experimenting on her, which probably meant she wasn't thinking clearly at all.

"Kim!" She winced, even though the voice was coming from her earpiece this time.

"Where the hell are you?" Agent Castle demanded.

Kim half expected to hear Peyton objecting to this, but there was only silence in her head.. She gave her position, hoping that he didn't ask why she was so far off point. He countered by giving the rendezvous coordinates.

"Lee, we've got a real-" she started to say, and then the pain filled her world.

_Just go to the meeting point like a good little girl _Payton sneered.

Kim considered flipping her off, but she was not surprised to find her arms were resting at her sides as if weighted down by lead. She decided to play along, at least until she was face to face with her fellow agents.

"The ball game's over Payton, and you lost, " Kim muttered under her breath.

_We're about to go into overtime_ Payton countered, "and this time, _you're going to help me escape._

Kim was frantically trying to find a way out of this situation, but her feet seemed to be operating independently of her body, and all of the mental effort she was trying to use to get her arms away from her sides wasn't working. "How the fuck are you doing this telepathy crap?" she demanded.

"Little variation on the concoction that we've been working on the last few years," Payton told her. "This virus overwhelms the normal neurons and reflexes within the brain. Combined with advances in nanotechnology that we've made over the past few years, and presto, the literal achievement of mind over matter."

Kim could barely understand the biochemistry of what the hell she was talking about, and knew it didn't matter much. She might have been able to aim wide when she was shooting at her own people, but there was no way she'd be able to miss at this range. In any case, she was out of time. Castle and two other agents were at the front of the building.

"Have we got a location on Payton?" she managed to tell him.

"No, but we've only started the perimeter search," Castle was telling.

_Take out your Glock and shoot the agents in front of you _Payton ordered.

Kim willed her body not to do so, but it was as if someone else was calling the shots. Her left hand was dropping to her side.

"Kim, you okay?"

She willed herself to speak, anything, but all she could do was gag. That and the fact that she was starting to go pale was enough to unnerve her fellow agents. Her hand was already pulling her weapon out.

And then, in a moment of blinding clarity, she knew that there was one way to override the contrary orders that her neurons were giving her, one way to counter the agony..

She managed to twist her Glock around, and shot herself in the foot.

The pain was so quick and sudden, it momentarily overwhelmed her other senses. "Payton's infected me with something," she shouted out. "She's probably somewhere in the basement!"

"What the fuck!" Castle shouted, as he tried to get near her.

Kim reacted by kicking the gun away "I'll be fine!" she shouted. "I think I just put her whole system on overload!"

_You, you can't! _Payton voice was there, but it was dying out now. _No ordinary person can overcome this._

"You know who my family is," Kim reminded her. "We're many things, but ordinary ain't one of them"

Only then did she let the considerably unnerved remaining agent tend to her wounds.

**7:45:02/7:45:03/7:45:04**

**East River**

Considering that they had been on the opposite side of the city, Mulder and Vaughn were a little concerned to learn that after a few minutes of traveling, they were closer to Sark then Jack and Scully had been. All three of the agents who'd been on Sark from the start of this operation were only slightly concerned by this, but were more worried about how quickly these people had to be moving.

They hadn't bugged Sark, that would have clearly blown up in their faces, but, based on the location and range of the homing signal, Edgar had managed to narrow down the area where Henderson's crew had been able to receive it. It was a big range- nearly twenty city blocks in the middle of Queens- but they were spread out far enough so that they could narrow down the search grid.

"How sure are we that they're not just going to kill him?" Scully put into words the uncertainty that they were all feeling.

"Henderson's method aren't this Byzantine," Jack reminded them. "Otherwise, they'd just have killed him the moment Sark came up for air. Sark knows something that Henderson needs to get."

"It would've been asking too much for him to share it with us?" Vaughn countered.

"All he would say is that we would hear about it soon enough," Jack replied. "Are we sure they didn't find the toy you fitted him with, Nadia?"

"We'll be finding out soon enough," Nadia said. "Edgar located the car's GPS. They've stopped moving. Location is just outside of the LIE. Ten block radius. If Sark's still alive, we should be hearing from him any second."

The next ten seconds were incredibly long for everybody. Then suddenly, the transmitter that Nadia fitted on the back of Sark's watch, the one that would only activate after it had been exposed to a certain body heat reading, began to broadcast.

"You'd put us through a lot to get you, Julian," one of the voices said. "You'd better have done what you said."

"Considering that they trust me even less than you, I'd say your lucky I managed to get it done at all."

"No one told you to give Bauer the vaccine."

"No one told you to infect Bauer in the first place," Sark countered. "Besides, I didn't know that certainly highly placed individuals were backing him."

"Is he selling us out?" Mulder asked Vaughn. Vaughn held up a hand.

"What you wanted done has been done" Sark continued. " Now, if you're going to follow through, I'd hurry up. I don't have to tell you-"

"No, you don't, Julian." Everyone looked up that; the voice was unmistakably Henderson's. "So come to the point: Is Bristow infected?"

There was a pause that went on a little too long for all of their comfort. "The attack was nearly five hours ago, and you didn't bother to test until now?" Sark demanded.

"How close are Bristow and Bauer?"

Now everyone got even more on edge, if such a thing were possible. Sark, for the first time, seemed to lose his cool "You knew."

"You're not the only one with people on the inside. How close?"

And at that moment, the signal locked in. "I've got a location," Nadia told them. "Edward the Confessor's Holy Mission. 197th Street. Whichever unit is closest, move in _now."_

AIRSPACE OVER QUEENS

Sydney had heard the last thirty seconds of conversation, and, after the automatic outrage at Sark had passed, she was considerably worked up. "Scully, Mulder, talk to me, does any of this sound familiar?" she demanded.

"You were dosed with the stuff twice already," Mulder replied. "But I thought it was flushed from your system."

_So did I. _Sydney never got a chance to say this, though, as a split second later, she was doubled over in pain.

"Get us on the ground, now!" Doggett ordered. He got on the phone. "I think that we're almost on top of them! Nadia, Jack, anybody, get ready to move in.

**7:53:49/7:53:50/7:53:51/7:53:52**

**197TH Street**

Vaughn didn't know that something was immediately wrong with his wife, which was probably a mercy. Mulder was seriously afraid that the man was going to drive the car into a street sign the moment he heard that Sark had appeared to do something that even smelled like betrayal. Mulder didn't care much for the turncoats well-being either; he just wanted to live long enough to stop whatever was going to be happening at the UN any minute now.

They managed to get outside of the mission. Jack's vehicle was already there. Mulder couldn't understand for a moment why they had already charged the door. "Now is a hell of a time to turn shy!" he shouted at the CTU agent.

"Doggett just called in from the chopper," There was a definite hesitation on Scully's part. "Something's wrong with Sydney."

Vaughn's reaction was to start unpacking the vests and the heavy weapons from the Hummer.

"Michael, we go in there blind, Henderson might decide to blow Syd's brains out by remote control," Jack argued. Vaughn didn't even slow down. "Vaughn, I have been where you are! Nothing is gained by me and Nadia becoming Isabel's parents!"

This may have registered for a second; then Vaughn shook it off. "I'm given them both thirty seconds to give up when we bust the door down," He finished loading the shotgun he was carrying. "After that, I make no promises."

Even Jack knew that was probably better than he was going to get, and considering that he had pushed for using Sark, he might as well be grateful that Vaughn didn't have him in the crosshairs. "We had better hope that they don't have ET's much bigger cousin as back up," Jack said as he got out his weapon. "Nadia, we breach in one minute. Get to the back entrance!"

Landing a helicopter in the middle of a New York Street was hard enough; doing while one of your passengers was doing every short of screaming bloody murder is not much easier.

In desperation, Doggett found himself turning to Samantha. "Please tell me this isn't your doing somehow," he demanded. "'Cause if you did. her family-"

"I didn't think that they had this level of control."

That brought Doggett up short. "Start talking,"

"In the advance stages, an inert virus can be reactivated by some kind of digitized stimulus," Samantha said quickly. "But we're still years away from that kind of technology."

Doggett would've laughed under other circumstances. "Give the people at CTU enough time, they could probably do it was coconuts and seashells," Doggett replied. "Assume they've overcome that obstacle. You're telling me the resistance hasn't found a way around it?"

"Not yet," Samantha replied, "but _you _might."

By now, they were on the ground. Doggett was readying his weapon; Syd had a hell of a nosebleed. Doggett still didn't trust Samantha but they didn't have much in the way of options. "This is a direct line to CTU," he told her. "Tech support will pick up. You had better come up with a solution fast. Otherwise, her family's going to come after you once this raid is over."

EDWARD THE CONFESSOR MISSION

Jack fully expected Henderson's people to start firing the second they charged the building - little more than a shelter, it would have been easy for them to repel the attack. But his people- such as they were- struck first. This smelled like a Trojan horse, but there was probably no way he would have been able to hold back Vaughn and his own wife.

Vaughn came in first, and didn't spare a second to see if there were any stray homeless people nearby. He fired both barrels into the first men that he saw he saw, and fortunately one of them held a gun in his hand.

Unfortunately, the three guys who surrounded him had guns too.

Nadia, hard as it was to believe, was behaving more rationally. She saw what was happening to her brother-in-law and hit the dirt. She then looked at the intel in her PDA, and began assuming position. She was therefore managed to drop one of the gunmen before he knew what hit him.

"Jack" she whispered, "there are at least four other guys in their with Sark and Henderson. They've got Vaughn in a box. Is Henderson the type to take hostages?"

"Not for long," Jack whispered. "We're going to have to try a quick break."

And then a very unwelcome voice came over their frequency. "Attention all CTU agents," Henderson demanded. "I may be cornered, but I'm far from helpless. Both Agents Bristow and Vaughn have gotten themselves into positions where they will die. Metaphorically, I have a trigger at each of their foreheads. You have three minutes to fall back, or I will kill them both."

"We both know you're going to kill them anyway!" It took a real effort for Jack to say what he had to. "So why should be show you any mercy?"

"Because of you do, I'll let one of them live." Henderson's voice became, if anything, more cruel. "And I know you Jack. You don't want to see any more children growing up without their parents. So what do you value more? The lives of your family, or the fate of the world? How many more deaths do you want on your conscience?"

Jack was not a cold man, no matter what his detractors might say about him, and he would never have been able to look his wife in the face if he hadn't at least hesitated. So he switched to a frequency that (hopefully) Henderson wouldn't be able to hack. "Nadia, you realize the situation?"

She hesitated only for a moment. "I do," she said.

"You know what has to be done?"

It took an effort. "Yes," she finally said. Then she took a deep breath. "All units," she prepared to order. "get ready to move in on Jack's signal."

**7:59:57/7:59:58/7:59:59/8:00:00**


	25. 8:00 AM TO 9:00 AM

**CHAPTER 24**

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 8:00 A.M. AND 9:00 A.M.**

**Inside**

"You do anything to hurt my wife-"

"Please, Agent Vaughn," Henderson barely even shrugged. "Presidents have threatened me today. You don't even rate."

Vaughn decided further rants were pointless; Henderson was too good at this to be swayed by emotional threats. He'd just have to hope for another opening.

And one came- from literally the last place he'd have looked.

"I've done my job," Sark replied. "At the very least, you could allow me to at least try and survive Mr. Bauer's bringing hell down upon us."

Henderson considered this for a moment. Then he waved his hand over to Vaughn's weapon. "Try not to forget which side you're on."

"I haven't," Sark replied, as he took the gun.

Two things happened simultaneously. The windows exploded inward, and Sark shot the assailant closest to Vaughn.

The next thirty seconds were absolute chaos, but since Henderson only had three other gunmen with him (and all of them human, apparently) CTU managed to win the day almost to easily.

When Jack finally made it through the front door, he have expected to see that Henderson had eaten his gun. Instead, he saw something that, even after everything that he had seen involving Syd and what he had learned about today, he would have never believed in a million years could happen. Sark was checking over Agent Vaughn, making sure he was all right, before handing over his weapon. (He was, however, smart enough to make sure that the clip was empty first.)

He barely had time to notice before he saw that Henderson, despite being surrounded by the corpses of his comrades, was not giving up yet. Only he wasn't holding a weapon, but rather a variation on a Palm Pilot. "One step further, and I turn Agent Bristow's brain into cabbage," he whispered.

Jack hesitated, but only for a moment. "I still don't believe that you could do something like that. Nothing involving the retrovirus would lead to this kind of effect."

"As Dr. Scully could easily tell you, one of the symptoms of this infection is the ability to reduce someone to a literal shell of your former self," Henderson replied slowly. "We've been working with these creatures for quite some time, Jack, and some of us are handy with technology ourselves. Push of a button," he lowered his hand right on top of a switch, "you want to see what nanite enhancement can do?"

From the way that Jack and Nadia were standing there, it was clear they desperately didn't want to believe what they were hearing, but weren't willing risk Syd's life on the remote possibility that Henderson was telling the truth

"Now, I'm going to walk out that door," Henderson indicated the back entrance, "and drive away. And if you and your friends are good little agents, Jack, maybe I'll turn the remote off in about thirty minutes." Now he gave a smile. "The President should be finishing his speech by then. I hear it's going to be a killer."

For the next five seconds, nobody did anything. Then Jack tapped his foot on the ground. Vaughn knew that there had to be some kind of signal, but he had no idea what it would be until a shot shattered the silence- and the Pilot that Henderson was carrying. Some of the glass on the computer screen lodged in Henderson's forehead, and he shrieked as he hit the ground.

Vaughn whirled around to see Mulder standing there, with an apologetic look on his face. "I was aiming for his shoulder," he replied.

"You idiot!" he shouted. "You've probably killed Sydney."

"Don't bet on it," Syd's voice was a lot weaker than it usually sounded, and there was blood streaming from her nose, but she was alive.

"Henderson, I've believed in a lot of crazy shit in my life," Mulder replied, "but even _I'm _not that gullible

Vaughn ran over to her. "Someone mind explaining to me what the fuck is going on here?" Nadia demanded.

"Credit the prodigal sister," Doggett replied, indicating Samantha Mulder. "I have no idea what kind of gizmo she told to your tech wizards, but whatever it was it worked _fast."_

"I'll be willing to explain, but we have to get to the U.N. now," Samantha reminded him. "Any minute the President's going to be starting his address. You are still interested in saving the world, right?"

Jack looked at Doggett. "How many people can you fit in your chopper?' he demanded.

**8:05:17/8:05:18/8:05:19**

**U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY**

The man who was calling himself James Prescott was being kept appraised of every action that was going on involving the agents that he had called in for this particular mission. He had doubts about almost everyone involved in this operation, and he was somewhat dismayed when the majority of the plans- plans that had been in the works for decades- had ended up failing, and in many cases, spectacularly so.

Prescott had always been wearing of using human collaborators for any part of this. They had demonstrated an enormous amount of patience in their plans for subjugation - hell, they had been willing to wait through a couple of ice ages. but now that they finally seemed to be near the conclusion, the well-executed plans that they developed kept falling apart. The problems with Matheson had been nearly the final straw- several of Prescott's colleagues had wanted to obliterate D.C. just to get there, but Logan, a nebbish little Napoleon, had talked them out of it. Logan wanted to go down in his as his country's greatest President; he had no idea that he would just be the last.

But now, everything seemed to be falling apart. He wasn't surprised Follmer's work was inaccurate- the man's entire career at the Bureau had been one filled of spectacular ineptitude glazed with corruption- but he was the best of a bad bunch. Henderson had been something of a disappointment - the man had real potential with single focus. Under other circumstances, he might have eventually been moved up higher in the totem pole. But he had developed one too many plans, and his overreaching had taken him too far.

The bigger concern were the rumors- for they had to be fiction- that CTU had dispatched at least half a dozen bounty hunters today. The FBI had known about them for far longer, and it had taken them eight years before they finally registered a kill. This was even bigger shock then the fact that the hybridized virus they had perfectly after half a century of work had failed its beta test. He felt vaguely like having Kelly Peyton skinned alive if this was the case, and he was supposed to be above such emotion, along with the assassin who had bungled the job killing Palmer.

Now Palmer was back in the game, and the bastard was naive enough to think that reclaiming his position as President would put an end to the terror. He might be back in office in three hours, but in ten minutes, he would finally be able to do what his 'colleagues' had waited so patiently for- ready half the Planet for colonization. Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow might be formidable adversaries, but they were only two humans. What could they possibly do against the full force of their own military?

EN ROUTE TO THE U.N.

There wasn't enough room in the helicopter for all of them and the armaments they were going to need for their assault. (In all honesty, Jack thought that nothing short of a couple of tanks might make this doable, but you make do with what you have.) So they had loaded the chopper with weapons, and he, Nadia and Mulder took Henderson with them into one of the other Hummers.

"Please tell me that you have a plan," Mulder asked after a minute of quiet. "I don't mind the possibility of going to my death, but I'd at least like it to have a chance in hell of working."

Jack had one more conversation with the President before the move on Henderson - and it was no more encouraging than the last one. David Palmer explained that a goodly amount of his cabinet had found his actions questionable _before _the attempt on his life. If he put forth everything that Jack and Mulder were telling him as gospel, he might never get his Presidency back, and if what Prescott was planning did happen, they would just as easily be doing Logan's work for them. There was no way he could do anything to reduce the military presence or supply reinforcements to augment the mission. If he did, he would be laying groundwork for possible impeachment afterwards, and somebody had to think about the long run.

"So basically we're going in blind, just the eight of us?" Mulder replied. "Christ, even Lee Marvin got eleven other guys."

Nadia's phone chose that minute to ring. The caller on the other end was a surprise to her, and after less than ten seconds she put her on the speaker. "Go ahead, Kim," she said.

If Jack was surprised to hear from his daughter, he kept it hidden. "Kim, did something happen in LA?"

"Quite a bit, actually." Kim took a deep breath. "It's a long story, and even the Cliff Notes would take to long. The bottom line is, a few hours ago, I was infected with the alien virus."

It took a considerable amount of willpower for Jack to keep the car on the road after hearing that. "How badly?" he managed to ask with his tone only going up an octave.

"It was serious, Dad, but somehow I managed to overcome the effects of it, long enough for Marshall and some of the people at CTU to start working on a way to counter its effects."

Though it only lasted for a moment, Mulder could see a look of genuine shock pass over Henderson's face. Jack managed to hide it a little better. "How the hell did you do that?"

"The closest translation I was able to get from Marshall was that the virus gives off a very faint signal that can be countered using ultrasonic waves," Kim told them. "Can I get confirmation of that from your coast?"

"Possibly," Jack said carefully. "But Kim, the President's going to be addressing the U.N. any minute now. We don't have time to build one from scratch."

"You're not going to," Kim replied. "There are also a couple of wise men who, while they've been on the run, think they've found a way to reach out and touch someone. Care to listen?"

**8:13:31/8:13:32/8:13:33/8:13:34**

**Air Space Approaching the UN**

Neither Sydney or Vaughn was wild about riding in the same helicopter with Sark, but then, to be fair, Sark wasn't wild about the idea either. He kept looking around as if he expected one or both of them to open the door and shove him out of it. And while they might have been willing to let it go, Doggett thought that this helicopter was small enough without the added elephant as a passenger

"Sark, if you'd gone along with Henderson, you'd probably be halfway to the Caribbean by now," he finally asked. "Why the hell did you go along with this?"

Sark actually blinked a couple of times on this. "Like I told Agent Santos before, I am a man of my word," he finally said. "And frankly, given the choice between having Henderson trying to kill me or Agent Vaughn, I'd prefer the former. At least, Henderson would only kill me once."

Syd and Vaughn looked like they didn't know whether to laugh, cry or shoot someone at this. Fortunately, at that moment, the radio started to blare It was Jack.

"Change of plans," he told them. "I just got off the radio with my daughter. She had some ideas as to how we might be able to augment our assault."

Doggett actually managed to breath after. "Good, cause that whole 'Charge of the Light Brigade bit,' really didn't think we were going to pull it off."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Mulder's voice replied. "You haven't heard the new plan yet."

This didn't fill Doggett with confidence. And when Jack finished outlining what he wanted them to do now, he began to wonder if everybody in the extended family was as crazy as Mulder seemed to be at times.

Syd seemed to recover first. "You do realize that for this to work, this transmission that you're going to have to use will have to be bounced off almost every satellite in the Western Hemisphere?"

"You have doubts in Marshall and Edgar?" Nadia sounded like she was questioning gospel.

"The two of them can do just about anything, but asking them to do this much this fast-" Sydney replied.

"The Gunmen are willing to help." Mulder finished. "With that much brainpower, they could probably black out the entire country if we asked."

They all considered this. "For all of this to work, we're going to need a hell of a distraction," Vaughn countered.

"Is my sister in the helicopter?" Mulder asked. When Samantha answered, he asked. "You really want to prove you're on the side of the angels, now's the time."

By now, the front of Dag Hammarskjold plaza was visible over the river. "We've stalled as long as we can," Sydney replied. "This sounds like a suicide mission, but right now, it's all we got. And if it's going to have a chance of coming off at all, we need to get prepped."

"I hate to be anal about this, but are you really just going to do all this, and hope that our prisoners are just going to wait in the car?" Scully pointed out.

"I've every intention of helping." Before anyone could respond to this, Sark reiterated: "Hey, I've seen what you've fought against before, and you have the habit of drawing an inside straight on the weakest of hands. And I am a man of my word, whether you believe or not."

"And I wouldn't worry about Henderson," Jack replied. "He's going to be the one who gets us through the front door."

Henderson hadn't said a thing through this entire conversation, but Doggett didn't want to speculate as to how they were going to use him.

"It's still going to be just us charging up Little Bighorn?" he asked."

"Believe me, Agent Doggett," Sark replied. 'It should be more then enough."

This didn't seem to fill anybody else with confidence. Which led Doggett to think that Sark might know exactly what was coming.

Was, in fact, counting on it.

**8:20:21/8:20:22/8:20:23/**

Prescott had done a lot more than make sure that he would still be in power when he addressed the UN. He had dispatched two military platoons, along with half of the NYPD riot squad to maintain guard around the General Assembly building. Add to that the number of Secret Service and international police that would be guarding the place as a matter of course, and there were probably thousands of people would be defending the building. Jack had pulled off some miracles in the years that Sydney had known him (and some more before that), but even she wasn't sure if he'd be capable of masterminding this particular maneuver.

But time was essentially up. According to the radio, Prescott was already on his way to the General Assembly, which meant they had less than five minutes. He knew that even with the best case scenario, they had less than a ten percent chance of pulling this off even with all of this tech support.

"Jack," David Palmer told him. "I've seen you do some remarkable things, but even if by some miracle you pull all of this off, you will be branded by some people as a traitor, and not just by people in this country. I will do everything in my power to make sure the world knows why you're doing this, but you have to know, there are limitations even to my power. "

"I'm aware of that, sir."

"I just need you to know, whatever the outcome, this nation owes you a debt that it will probably never be able to repay. And I have been privileged to call you a friend."

"The honor has been all mine, Mr. President," Jack told him.

"Good luck, Jack. My prayers are with you." And with that David Palmer hung up

Jack got out of the car and walked towards the rendezvous point, hauling Henderson with him "He's not going take my call, you know," the ex-agent said. "When you're on the verge of the world domination, you tend to forget all of the little people who brought you there."

"All you have to do is make contact," Jack told him. "We'll handle the rest. Make the goddamn call."

Henderson mad a face, then took out the cell that he'd been using to keep in contact with Prescott, and dialed.

The second that the phone range, Edgar used the satellite to lock on to the exact position. On the other side of the continent, Marshall, Byers and Langley began to bounce an ultrasonic wave off half a dozen others to make sure the signal got there in the twenty seconds it took from the first ring until someone picked up the phone.

"You've chosen a very bad time to break radio silence, Christopher," James Prescott answered. Even angry his tone never went about moderate concern

"I haven't got much of a choice in the matter, sir."

"Do I have a problem?"

"Bauer's probably in his save-the-world from itself mode by now," Henderson countered.

"We're locked in," Marshall whispered on a separate line.

"Where do I need to position my people?"

'I'm going to transmit the coordinates now," Henderson seemed perfectly calm as he gave them a position on one side of the Plaza.

Of course, getting Prescott to shift only a small number of his troops wasn't going to be enough to get Sydney and her people where they needed to be. Even the strongest signal was bound to be broken up by the immense amount of interference that every media outlet, and half the phone lines on the East Coast were cutting them off. In order for this to have a chance of working, they needed a hell of a distraction.

Which was exactly what the resistance was about to provide.

Given the immense amount of military presence and the fact that so much that had happened today had gone wrong, one would have thought that Prescott would have tried to have as few members of the media on site as possible. But, while he had been goddamn sure to make certain that nobody in the press had access to the actual meeting, he _wanted _to make sure all media attention was focused on this conference. By doing so, he could keep David Palmer in check and getting any information on what was a huge story by keeping them covering a global one, if only for an extra few minutes. It was a calculated risk, but so far it had been working, and all he had to do was keep the bastards occupied for another ten minutes.

In doing so, the acting President was about to inadvertently create the biggest story since the crucifixion.

All of the media was doing what amounted to filling up airtime with speculation as to what was going to happen. Therefore, it was never quite clear which of the media outlets realized what was happening first. But because a lot of them couldn't get out of the way of their own technology.

Whatever the case, it took several seconds for the correspondents to realize that darkness was covering the immediate area. By the time they did, they realized that everybody was looking up.

It was one thing to be abducted by a flying saucer in the dark of night; it was another to see the fucking thing just hanging overhead. _Christ, _Syd couldn't help but think, _when these guys decide to help, they don't fucking do it by halves. _

Prescott might have the finest trained military in the world, but it was goddamn hard not to have your eyes drawn to it. And she knew for an absolute fact that there was no way you could just tear your eyes away from the sky. More than that, for ten long seconds, the craft had managed to block out communications- more than long enough for Marshall to send the ultrasonic message over the air.

_They've done their job_ Sydney thought. _Now we have to do ours._

**8:28:43/8:28:44/8:28:45/8:28:46**

**Inside the General Assembly**

. Every channel featured battle hardened news anchors voices breaking as they saw what the hell was going on outside.

Prescott knew that this wasn't his groups doing, which meant that it had to be the resistance. He turned to his nearest aide, and demanded access to a secure line..

"I'm trying, sir," the resolute aide said. "But the traffic is overwhelming. Everybody and his brother is trying to get a handle on what the hell is going on out there."

Suddenly, a monster migraine ran through Prescott's head. A body that was capable of being blasted to atoms and rebuilding itself was beginning to feel pain beyond imagining, which was saying something. One of the aides tried to help him, but despite this, he shook him off and demanded entry into the general assembly.

"Sir, the security forces locked the entire place down the minute that-" the aide struggled for the right word and couldn't come up with it. "_that_ entered the UN's airspace."

Prescott realized he didn't have any time, and started bolting towards the door. The aide tried to stop him, and, half-mad with a headache, he practically threw the man into the wall.

The three members of Prescott's detail who were not human knew what was happening and started to run into position. But by then, it was already too late. The President let out a scream that was heard throughout the entire U.N.. Then a bizarre fluid- a mixture of black oil, silver metal, and a viscous red solution- began to flow out of both Henderson's ears. Something very similar was happening to certain members of the delegations that Prescott had met with a few hours earlier. Not even the aliens were quite sure what they were seeing; all they knew was, it meant death.

Their plans had been thwarted somehow. But there was still a chance that they could pull this off. One of them had to get inside the assembly, and finish the job that Prescott had been about to do.

The UFO that had hovered over the crowds below vanished in the blink of an eye. Samantha Mulder's friends clearly had better reflexes than your average cheetah.

This did nothing to quiet the crowd below; if anything, they got even louder. And why not? This kind of image was the kind of thing that the media would be playing over and over for years.

Now it was time for Sydney and her team to finish cleaning up the mess they had made. While everybody in the world had been watching the UFO, she, Scully, Doggett and Vaughn had gotten through the holes in security that Prescott had allowed minutes earlier. They had one objective- remove the alien threat.

The chaos that was unfolding on the ground was almost as bad as what had happened in Russia less than three years ago. But dealing with just this kind of chaos was exactly what Michael Vaughn had been trained to do, and when your instructors were the Agency, Jack Bristow, and Jack Bauer, you find that you can handle practically everything, even if you are still considered a 'boy scout'.

As soon as he hauled himself on to a slightly higher window ledge, he started to do what somebody in the military should have begun doing when this whole mess got started- dispersing the mob. He grabbed a couple of riot gas canisters that had been in one of the hummers, and threw them into the crowd. He waited several seconds, knowing that this action would probably remind the panicked troopers how to do their goddamned job, and that eventually the panic would burn itself out. Dozens of people would probably end up getting hurt or killed as a result, and there would be a hefty price for CTU to pay, but right now Vaughn was less concerned with that then living to fight another day.

Oh, and getting to the second part of his mission. Which he accomplished by taking a rock he had poached, and smashing the window in.

Scully's part in this little exercise was so risky that Mulder had tried really hard to persuade her to switch jobs with him. Scully had reminded him once again, a) no part of this job was particularly safe, and b) she was the better one at doing this particular job than Mulder had ever been. Reluctantly he had agreed with this part, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Scully's job was to approach the hallway from the northernmost entrance. Sydney would come from the south. Her signal had been to hear the shattering window, and wait for the riot gas to start seeping in. This took a very long minute.

Eventually, almost every man in the hallway doubled over or was on the ground. The key word- 'almost. Three didn't, and even the once-skeptical Scully knew why.

Another reason that Mulder had been nervous about this was that Scully had been tasked with an AK-47. This was the critical weapon for this to work, but she had next to no experience using one. Mulder would've thought that the recoil alone could drive her into the ground.

But Scully's aim, as always, was better than Mulder's, and in a matter of seconds, she had the back of the neck targeted. With two presses of the trigger, she had all but blown the alien's head off, causing it to explode in a sea of goo.

Doggett had more experience with advanced weaponry that the other agents on the X-Files, but he still hadn't used some of this weaponry until that day. Plus if you screwed up with a rocket launcher, there was a very good chance of collateral damage, and he had already killed enough people today.

These aliens were definitely smart. Only one came running after Scully, and that was the one he'd have to handle. Simple enough, if you were used to killing aliens.

Saying a silent prayer, he got the second alien in his crosshairs, and fired. A split second later, he realized the consequences if this thing exploded where it did, but it was too late.

The good news was that he had managed a clean strike. The rocket propelled grenade took off most of the alien's head, and he dissolved instantly. Unfortunately, Scully was within range, and almost instantly fell to the ground, as the virus began to burn her eyes.

His better instincts overcame him, and he started running to his ex-partner.

All that remained was one very determined creature And, because of the challenges of getting inside the building, Syd was without the heavy artillery that Jack had managed to make good use of killing the bastards in Central Park..

Fortunately, she had an ace in the hole. The question, of course, was whether this behemoth would give her enough of a chance to use it.

_Come on, _Sydney thought to herself _how hard can this be? You managed to stop one yesterday._

By now, she had gotten enough adjusted to the maneuvers of these brutes that she was able to dodge when he began the bull charge that seemed to be these things stock and trade. The creature was not amused by this, and responded by yanking a fixture out of the wall, and heaved it at her. She dodged it, though it wasn't as easy as she made it look.

"That the best you can do?" she shouted. "My mother threw harder than that!"

The alien was not amused . He either didn't know who her mother had been or just didn't care. For that matter, Sydney should have known that taunting these creatures didn't make them mad, just more determined. But out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Prescott was looking like he was about to bolt, so she decided to cut this short.

"You're not the only one with fancy toys," she told him, as she pulled out the miniature flame thrower she'd copped when she was in the UFO earlier. "And I think you know how this one works."

Sydney wasn't sure if the creature was ever surprised, but she didn't wait to find out. Her one disappointment was that even in death, these creatures never so much as shouted. She'd been fighting these things all day; she wanted to know if they had any voice of their own.

Syd saw what was happening, and ran back over to Doggett. Before she did, she radioed to Jack. "Prescott's dead; the aliens have been neutralized," she paused. "One last thing to handle."

Doing this wouldn't help their side one bit. Hell, it would probably make things even worse without a sacrificial lamb. But even with all the blood that had been shed today, Jack just couldn't find it in him to keep Henderson alive.

He turned to his ex-mentor, who Nadia had locked up the second that he reached out and connected with Prescott, and removed his Glock. Henderson knew what was coming, but didn't avert his glance- if anything, he stared at him even harder. "Your problems aren't over, you know," he spat out. "If anything, this'll get you in even deeper shit with your superiors."

"Since when have I ever cared about what the powers that be thought?" Jack said quietly. "There's got to be some justice somewhere. And you are responsible for the deaths of Marcus Dixon and Mike Novick. They were my friends."

Henderson looked at him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he whispered. "Do it." Then after long moment, he shouted out: _"Do it!"_

Jack fired twice, once at Henderson's head, once at his chest.

Nadia walked over to her husband, uncuffed Henderson's wrists, and took his weapon from him. "It didn't help, did it?" she asked.

"It never does," Jack said.

Doggett was never going to understand how this virus worked. Maybe because of her previous exposure, Scully didn't need much treatment. The burning in her eyes and skin began to go away as soon as they had left the building.

"I think it's over, Sydney," she said in a dull whisper.

Sydney shook her head. A few seconds later, several men wearing Homeland Security jackets came running in.. There were several seconds of "What the fuck?" and "What the hell happened?" before a man in a suit came running up to them. "Agent Bristow," he replied. "You and your people are being taken into custody."

"On what charge?" Scully demanded resolutely.

"High treason and plots against the Presidency." The tone brooked little argument.

_Now it's over. _"I want to talk to David Palmer," Sydney replied.

"Go ahead," the agent told them. "When this is all over, my guess is his ass will be sitting in the cell next to yours."

LOS ANGELES

The news that was coming out was sketchy and speculative, but in Los Angeles, there was at least one man who understood fully what had happened and what it would mean to the country. And he would be damned if he was going to face the music.

Senator Charles Logan had always been a prudent man, so he had been sure to make sure that a Magnum was at his home. Now, less than a minute after receiving a call from an aid at Homeland telling him that CTU was going to pull him in for questioning, he removed the weapon from the box, put it below his chin, and pulled the trigger.

Like almost everything else that was related to that horrible day, the Senator's action would never be fully understood by the general public. But not even in his final moments had Logan understood that all he been in this plot was a pawn, and never a player. All the real movers rested easy knowing that the last definite link to their culpability died with the Senator from California.

**8:46:08/8:46:08/8:46:10/8:46:11**

Jack wasn't surprised to hear that the FBI and Homeland had been called a full half hour before Jack's team had been on site. In a way, there was a very strange synchronicity to what had happened: the FBI had been cleaning up the mess when Sydney and Vaughn and thought that there had been a cover-up as to what had happened in the Hoover Building yesterday morning, and now they were doing the exact same thing here.

The fact that Jack's team might have prevented what might well have amounted to a global crisis would probably be irrelevant to those in higher authority. The fact that James Prescott had engaged in crimes that were far worse than the ones that they were facing wouldn't matter much either. Culpability was what mattered to the people who were in charge, and now that there was no real villains to blame, it was up to those higher up in the food chain to make sure that somebody's ox got gored.

Jack had known all this going into the final act. So did Sydney, Nadia and Vaughn. But Fox Mulder had been far more concerned that they were going out on a suicide mission than what the possible consequences would be. Then again, why should he have worried? He, Scully and Doggett had effectively nothing left to lose, career wise. But now that his friends were being faced with serious prison time, he was considerably outraged.

"So let me get this straight, for basically saving the world, we're all going to jail?" he demanded of Jack over their communicator.

"The President is a man of his word," Jack replied. "He'll do everything that he can to make sure that doesn't happen. Plus he knows that if the full extent of what Prescott and Logan were responsible for, the entire government might face even greater consequences."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Jack chose to ignore that remark. "Sydney and Vaughn will probably be cashiered out of the government. My guess is I'll be fired as well. As for you and your friends-"

"The X-Files have already been put on trial, Jack," Mulder interrupted. "That's the whole reason Scully and I were on the run in the first place."

"Would you relax?" Nadia told him.

"Hey, maybe you're used to walking away from charges of high treason. The last time I was, I was sentenced to death."

"You've got a reason to be worried," Jack replied. "But my friends and I are going to make sure that you walk away from this."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Mulder countered.

"Just listen."

**INSIDE THE U.N.**

Even the battled hardened veterans of domestic terrorist attacks were somewhat at a loss by what they were seeing. If Syd wasn't facing the most trumped up criminal charges for causing a lot of this messed, she might have been able to see things their way.

"You honestly expect me to believe this particular line of bullshit?" one of the agents demanded.

"And I suppose that you have a more logical explanation as to what's been happening today?" Sydney countered. "Did you put your head up your own ass voluntarily or did your boss shove it there?"

She half expected to get belted for that one, but they hadn't gotten all of the civilians out yet. "You honestly think that David Palmer's going to be able to save you and your friends this time?" the agent demanded. "The Cabinet is invoking Twenty-Five His political life is over and he won't be able to bail you out."

"Maybe, maybe not," Vaughn replied. "But I think that Congress will be just as interested to learn that everything that happened here- fuck, everything that's happened since yesterday morning was preventable, and that there is an explanation that could have sold them."

"More of this extra-terrestrial crap?"

The urge to kick this son of a bitch the balls was almost overwhelming Sydney. Instead, she decided to try and play on these people's weaker angels. "What exactly do you think that flew over the U.N. half an hour ago? It's a little early for the Northern Lights to be in season."

"Listen, Agent Bristow-"

"No, you listen," Sydney demanded. "This mess may read like a massive domestic terrorist attack to everybody else, but you people in the Bureau know that there's another word for it. And that's an X-File. For more than a decade, the people who we've been working with since yesterday have been trying to warn us about exactly what has been going on. It cost them their family, their friends, a loss of life almost unimaginable, but the bottom line is _they were right._ About alien conspiracies, monsters program to destroy life on this planet, people within our own government who have been working with them - all of it. You might be able to shut me and my family up-" she looked directly at them- "you can try to sell us as scapegoats, but it doesn't change the fact that there were people who could've stopped almost everything that happened if we'd let go of our limitations and just listened to them. You may think that you're going to get rid of your headache, but all you've done is triage. The infection is going to come back, and if you believe them- and I do- we don't have much time left." She hesitated, then went the rest of the way. "And you're talking to someone who knows about apocalypses."

There was a long silence. For a moment, Sydney actually allowed herself to think that she might have prevailed. "You're not in a position to be making any sorts of demand -" he started

"Oh, fuck the bureaucratic bullshit!" Vaughn demanded. "You want to throw me and my wife and my family to the wolves, go ahead! We both know you'll unleash fourteen kinds of holy hell with the government, but go ahead. But unless you put Mulder, Scully and Doggett back in charge of the X-Files - and give it some fucking teeth- job security is going to be the least of your fucking worries!"

And at that very moment one of the lower level lackeys came in looking royally worried. "Sir, we have a situation in Los Angeles," he told her.

"Go ahead," Sydney said. "I'd love to hear how this is our fault, too"

The bad news just kept on coming. The van that had been taking Payton back to CTU had been found overturned in a ditch en route. All the agents were dead, but there was no sign of Peyton. Then they told them that the people who had come to Charles Logan's residence had found he had taken his own life.

"They're cleaning house," Sydney told them. "Really think that you can handle this now? Think Congressional Oversight will think that you've done a heckuva job handling this crisis?"

Now the man in charge was starting to sweat a little. He turned to the lackey. "Get Karen Hayes on the phone. Tell her that we've found a wrinkle in the situation that needs to be handled."

"Sir, the Attorney General -"

_"Do it." _He turned back to Syd and Vaughn. "Take them back to Division for debriefing. Then I need you to get back to the FBI."

He walked out of the room, looking as dumbstruck as if Sydney had kicked him in the balls.

Then Sydney turned to Vaughn, and removed the miniature recorder from her shirt pocket. "You get all that, the three of you?"

Scully reacted first. "I don't know what to say."

"We basically just gambled everything we have left with the government on you," Vaughn replied. "_Do not fuck this up."_

Nadia had used her phone call to get back in touch with her daughter-in-law, and was getting the short version of what Kelly Payton had done to her. She had felt her husbands gut instinct to put her hands around her throat and start squeezing even though Kim seemed to be fine. She was just as sure Kim wanted to violate Henderson's corpse, even though she assured her that Jack was physically okay.

Kim had been okay for a moment, then turned reflective. "Do you think that we really accomplished anything today?" she asked.

Nadia had been considering this for quite some time. She'd heard a lot of talking about what was waiting for Earth from a lot of very unreliable sources. And even though they had managed to stop everything that had been planned for today, there was no guarantee that in three years they wouldn't be facing something a hundred times worse.

"I don't know, Kim," she finally admitted. "But you've seen some of the scenarios that my family and yours have had to deal with over the years We've been able to do the impossible before. I'd like to think that we can do it when the events are on a far larger scale."

"Can I talk to my father?"

"One minute," Nadia told her daughter-in-law. "I think he's got one last goodbye to say."

Mulder walked back over to Jack. "I owe you a great deal," he told him. "But you need to know. Every single person who has ever stuck their neck out for me, everyone who's tried to defend me- they've ended up dead."

Jack actually managed a smile at this. "You've seen my family; you honestly don't think we can't take care of ourselves?"

"They got to the President," Mulder reminded. "And they infected you with the virus. Your family, they're in yet another set of crosshairs now."

Jack knew this as well as anybody else how great the danger was. And he knew, even if they somehow managed to survive this with their jobs, the risks would be even greater. "You're not going to tell me to watch my back?" he tried to joke.

"It's the ones from your front that get you," Mulder responded deadpan. "Look, I know you've got a lot to worry about, but still, I just wanted to say- thank you."

He offered his hand, and Jack shook it. Then, as the people from Homeland came to take them in for their debriefing, he looked up at the bright new day that awaited him and his friend. "Maybe I was right," he said to himself.

Cloaked in an energy field, invisible to the radars that were looking for it, the alien ship took off. Mulder didn't know it, but on it, his sister was thinking the exact same thing as he was.

"Maybe there's hope."

**8:59:57/8:59:58/8:59:59/9:00:00**


End file.
